Revival I: The Tournament
by MyAibou
Summary: Two years after graduation, a Duel Monsters tournament brings the whole gang together again... End of series spoilers. YxT, JxM, mild MKxRH, hints at TTxSxDD. Edited to fix the Pharaoh's name. Blame Lucidscreamer.
1. Arrival

**REVIVAL**

**PART I: THE TOURNAMENT**

**Summary:** Two years after graduation (see Prologue: _Paradox_), a Duel Monsters tournament "just for fun" brings the whole gang together again as old feelings create new tensions and a lost friend seeks forgiveness. But when is a Duel Monsters tournament ever "just for fun?" **End of series spoilers.** YugixTéa, JoeyxMai, mild MokubaxRebecca, hints at TristanxSerenityxDuke.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Yu-gi-oh_ or its characters; Kazuki Takahashi does. I'm just taking them for a joy ride. I promise to put them back when I'm done.

**Rating:** T for mild language, violence, suggestive content.

**A word about continuity (such as it is):** Read the Prologue (Paradox) first to follow what's going on. This story mostly follows the dubbed American Kids WB version because that's what I watch with my kids. So sue me. ;) That said, whenever it suits my purposes, I borrow from the original Japanese version (gleaned from episode guides on the brilliant _Yu-Jyo_ site, _Janime_, and _False Memories_ – e-mail me if you want the links) or the manga. For example, Yugi and Téa were childhood friends, as in the manga, even though in the American version a flashback shows Yugi and Joey deciding they should get to know her after the boys are already friends. Basically, wherever there is a conflict between the American, Japanese, and manga, I go with whatever I like best. :) Events referred to that have not yet aired in the U.S. (some of the Memory World/Dawn of the Duel arc) I got from _Janime _and_ False Memories._

**Oh, and about Mai's age:** I've fanwanked her about five years younger because the idea of a woman in her mid-twenties falling for a 15-year-old kid is a bit too Mary Kay Letourneau for me (shudder). I have her at about 19 when she first met the others on the boat to Duelist Kingdom and yes, there is an explanation for the discrepancy between this and canon.

**

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**

**1. Arrival**

_Two years after graduation_

Téa Gardner walked quickly through the crowded terminal at San Francisco International Airport, trying to calm her restless nerves. Two years. How could it have been two years since she'd last seen him? She picked up her pace, anxious to see a familiar face. It wouldn't be _his_ face, she knew, but at this point, any familiar face would do.

"Hey, watch it!" she snapped, elbowing her way past a couple who was walking through the concourse toward baggage claim as if they were on a Sunday stroll. She immediately felt bad and uttered a quick apology before hurrying on. She'd been in New York too long.

Finally she could see the security station and the crowds of people in the opposite direction going through the metal detectors, and then beyond the barricades, she spotted a tall, lean young man about her age, with a long tangle of black hair held out of his green eyes with a red and black headband wrapped around his forehead. As always, a single die dangled from his left ear on the end of a long earring. She broke into a wide grin and waved.

"Duke!"

He saw her, and smiled and waved in return. She passed the barricades and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "Duke, it is _so _good to see you!"

It really was great to see him. Though an arrogant jerk when Téa and her friends had first met him during the brief time he attended their school in Domino, Duke Devlin had quickly grown to be a close friend. He'd moved to San Francisco almost immediately after they'd made friends with him five years ago—_could it possibly have been that long?—_and had been living here ever since, but that hadn't stopped him from joining them on many of their adventures, even showing up in Egypt to witness the Ceremonial Battle.

"It's good to see you too, Téa!" he said warmly, squeezing her in return. Then he let go and stepped back, his hands on her shoulders. "Look at you! You look great!"

She blushed. "Yeah, right. Two three-and-a-half hour flights and a plane change in Dallas. I'm sure I look _fabulous_."

"You do!" Duke argued. "Show Business agrees with you."

She scowled at that. "Hardly."

"C'mon, let's get your bags. You want me to carry that?" he asked, indicating the carry-on bag she had slung over her shoulder.

"No, I've got it."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

"Okay," he said, then with an exaggerated bow, offered her his arm. "My lady, your carriage awaits."

She giggled, taking his arm, and they headed down the escalator toward baggage claim. God, it was good to be among friends again, even a big-headed egotist like Duke.

"So how is New York?" he asked her.

She scowled again. "It's a pit. An unrelenting, repulsive, cesspool. I hate New York."

He raised his eyebrows. "You're kidding!" Then he nodded. "Oh yeah, I forgot, you're moving back to Domino, aren't you?"

"When my contract ends in August, just in time for my birthday. Less than three months and I'm free," she said through gritted teeth. "I start at Domino University second semester in October."

"I don't get it, Téa. Dancing in New York has always been your dream."

She sighed. "Sometimes you find you've been dreaming the wrong dreams."

"Is it because you've gotten chorus roles and aren't a _star?" _he teased.

"Ugh, no!" she retorted, horrified. "I've been really lucky. I've been working steadily, and I don't care in the least that it's chorus work mostly."

"What, you just don't like dancing anymore?"

"No, that isn't it. I love dancing. It just… I don't know," she said, hoisting her bag back onto her shoulder as it slipped. "I guess once it became my job it stopped being fun. Do you ever feel like that? Like Dungeon Dice Monsters isn't fun anymore because it's your work?"

"Actually, no," he replied. "I love making money off the game I invented."

She rolled her eyes. "You're like a second-rate Seto Kaiba."

"Give me a break," he shot back. "Kaiba and I may both be fabulously young and handsome entrepreneurs, but I didn't have a stepdaddy with a gazillion dollars to set _me _up."

"No, you had Pegasus."

"Hey, I had to _work _for that contract with Industrial Illusions!" he protested.

Téa started laughing. "I'm joking, Duke, take it easy!"

They made it down to baggage claim and elbowed their way through the crowd for a spot near the belt where Téa's bags were to be unloaded from her flight. While they waited, she asked, "So when do the others arrive?"

"Joey and Serenity will be here in a couple hours," he replied, looking at his watch, "but they'll have to go through customs first. I was thinking we have plenty of time to run back to my place, drop off your bags, and get a bite to eat before we come back to get them."

Téa couldn't wait to see Joey and his sister, but they weren't exactly foremost in her mind, either. "What about everyone else?"

"Tristan is coming on military transport and is meeting us at the pier tomorrow afternoon."

Still not what she was looking for. "And Yugi? Have you heard from him?"

Duke shrugged. "Nothing from Becky, either. I figured if anyone would've heard from him, it would be you. Or Joey or Tristan. Still nothing?"

She shook her head. "None of us have heard a word from him, unless he sent Joey an e-mail since he and Serenity left for Tokyo. I'm starting to get worried, Duke. Yugi bought his plane tickets six months ago just before he went on that expedition. The last I heard from him they were supposed to be getting back to Cairo two weeks ago and then he and Rebecca were supposed to fly to New York on Monday to stay with me and then we'd all fly here together. But no one heard anything so Joey contacted the university in Cairo last week and they said Professor Hawkins' team was delayed and that's all they knew."

"No news is good news," Duke said, trying to reassure her. "I heard the dig sites were out in the middle of nowhere and there were all sorts of religious restrictions against electronic communications and stuff from the local tribes. Very little communication with the outside world, and transportation is probably a bear, too. I bet it isn't unusual to be delayed a week or two," Duke said.

"Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. But if he's any more delayed, he's going to miss the tournament entirely," she sighed, disappointed. She'd hoped that maybe in the last few days, Yugi would have at least have managed to contact Duke to arrange for pick up at the airport or _something._

"Well, I do know the tournament officials are expecting him. They're making a huge deal out of it, too. 'The Return of the King of Games!' or something like that. Kaiba is going to foam up like a rabid dog over the fuss they're making over, well, anyone who isn't Kaiba."

"Oh God, Yugi will be _mortified_." But it made her smile.

Duke smiled, too. "Yeah, I can't wait to see his reaction." He nudged her with his elbow. "Don't worry, okay? He and Becky will be fine. They'll find a way to get here on time. Oh finally, here come the bags."

Téa grimaced at the mention of Rebecca Hawkins. She knew from the constant e-mails she and Yugi had exchanged in the year and a half prior to his leaving Cairo that he had come to regard her as something like a little sister, but the thirteen-year-old child genius still got under Téa's skin. Giving herself a mental kick for thinking like a jealous schoolgirl, she watched for her two bags to come up the belt from below.

**

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**

By the time they got through customs, the extensive search through his bags, and the terrifying moment when he was pretty sure the severe, imposing, and very large female customs official was going to strip search him, Joey Wheeler was in a foul mood. It was hard to stay that way, however, partly because his eighteen-year-old sister was brimming with excitement at her first trip to America since she was a toddler and her enthusiasm was infectious. The other reason that it was hard to stay cranky was that now that they'd finally made it through customs, they were only minutes away from seeing their friends.

"Joey, look! There's Téa and Duke!" Serenity cried out, waving at their friends on the other side of the security barricades. She took off at a run, leaving Joey with all their luggage.

"Ren!" he heard Duke cry out as he swept Serenity into a tight hug.

"Great, just great," Joey muttered under his breath, his bad mood returning. But only as long as it took him to drag their bags down the concourse and past the barricades to where Serenity was talking with Duke and Téa.

"Joey!" Téa shouted, flinging herself at him before he could even drop the bags. He staggered back under her momentum, then regained his footing and threw his arms around her in return.

He held her tightly for a moment, than pulled back to look at her. "Téa, man are you a sight for sore eyes," he said. She'd changed since he'd last seen her when she'd come back to Domino last Christmas, which suddenly seemed like a very long time ago. She'd always been an attractive girl, medium height and lean, but professional dancing had added muscle tone and she carried herself with a grace she hadn't possessed in high school. Her chocolate-brown hair was longer than he remembered it, brushing her shoulders now, but she still wore it in basically the same style, with bangs dusting her large blue eyes. He grinned. "When did you get to be such a hottie?"

She blushed deeply. "Shut up, Joey." Then she, too, smiled. "You haven't changed at all."

He knew that was true. He'd only grown maybe half an inch since graduation, putting him at just under six feet tall, with the same shaggy blond hair that was always hanging in front of his brown eyes. "I'll take that as a compliment," be replied with a wink.

Téa laughed in response. "You would."

His reunion with Téa was cut short, however, when he saw over her shoulder that Duke was standing awfully close to Serenity, his arm casually draped across her shoulders. Breaking off from Téa, he went over to his sister and gave Duke a menacing glower. "Duke."

"Joey!" Duke cried, and if he was the least bit cowed by Joey's Protective Big Brother Glare, he didn't show it. Removing his arm from Serenity's shoulders, he grabbed Joey in a bear hug. "Glad you guys made it! You get through customs all right?"

"Don't ask," Joey grumbled. "You wanna give me a hand with the bags?"

"You got it," Duke replied amiably, and Joey found his bad mood dissolving again in spite of himself. The two men sorted out who would bring which bags, then they followed behind Téa and Serenity, chatting animatedly as they headed for Duke's car.

"I'm so excited you're moving back to Domino," Serenity was telling Téa. "I just moved back there myself. Yugi's grandfather is letting me stay at their place for free and I started college in April."

"How can you afford so much time off school in the middle of May?" Téa asked.

Serenity indicated her luggage with a nod. "You wouldn't _believe _the amount of books and homework I brought with me. I really shouldn't have taken so much time only a month into my first semester, but I really wanted to visit America and I couldn't miss the opportunity to see everyone."

"You're in pre-med, right?"

"That's right," Serenity confirmed. "Ever since the operation on my eyes, I've wanted to become a doctor. I took a six-week introductory EMT course over the winter, too, so I've already got a bit of a start with some basic stuff."

"Wow, you did all that before you were even done with high school?" Téa asked, impressed.

Serenity flushed. "I was eighteen already, so they let me in. It was very basic; I need more training before I could get a job or anything."

Joey couldn't help but brim with pride at his sister. While he would never be anything more than an almost-but-not-quite-champion duelist, his sister, the most important person in his life, was going to be saving people's lives.

"So when do you move back?" Serenity continued.

"My contract is up in three months," Téa responded. "I'll be back a couple of months before the start of second semester."

"That's great! We'll be going to school together! What are you studying?"

Joey watched as Téa hesitated. "I'm not really sure yet. History and Literature, mostly. I think I might like to go into teaching."

Joey shook his head. "You know, Téa, I still don't get it. For as long as I've known you, you've wanted to dance."

"I'll still dance," she said, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "I just don't want to do it for a living."

"Why not?"

She took a long time to answer. "I think I got spoiled in high school with all the things we did. I mean, how many people get to help save the world? Dancing seems kind of… anti-climactic."

Joey nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. I miss the old days. I miss… making a difference."

Serenity stopped short in front of them and turned to face him. "You make a difference, Joey. I wouldn't even be going to college if it weren't for you."

That was a never-ending source of both pride and frustration for Joey. Pride that he was the one who was putting Serenity through college. Frustration with his parents as neither his mother, who had raised Serenity, nor his father, who had raised him—at least if you used the term loosely—had bothered to put away any money to pay for either of them to go to college. Their mother had exhausted all of her money on medical expenses for Serenity's eyes to the point where she hadn't even been able to pay for the final operation. That money had come from Yugi's Duelist Kingdom prize. Their father was a lazy, abusive, selfish drunk who blamed Serenity's medical problems and eventually her very existence for everything that was wrong in his life. Joey did try not to blame his mom too much and as for his dad… well, they were better off not having any connection with him anyway. Frankly, the last thing Joey wanted was for him to even know Serenity was in Domino at all.

Still, the very idea of Serenity not getting to go to college made him burn. She was so smart and kind and had so much to give the world. To him it was almost criminal. So for two years, he'd scraped and saved, living in Yugi's old room in exchange for working at his grandfather's shop, and working a second job as a cook at the university's student union, which would not only earn him more money to save, but would allow family members, including his sister, a greatly reduced rate on tuition. He also had won some decent prizes at quite a few dueling tournaments, and Serenity had earned a scholarship that would pay for all her books and supplies. Yugi's grandfather had kindly allowed her to stay with them, too. Amazing that the grandfather of his friend cared more about them than their own father. All of this should be enough to get her through undergrad, anyway. He'd figure out how to manage med school when the time came. It was his absolute top priority.

He gave Serenity a quick dip of his head, acknowledging her words, then grumbled "You wanna keep moving there, little sis? These bags are kinda heavy."

Serenity smiled and turned around again, following Téa to Duke's convertible, where they managed to stuff all the bags into the trunk then all piled in. Joey glared again when Duke offered Serenity the front seat next to him, but Téa grabbed Joey's arm and pulled him into the back seat beside her and they were off to Duke's apartment where they'd be spending the night and recovering from jet lag before heading for the tournament tomorrow.

The Duel at Sea World Championship Tournament was the most elaborate tournament Joey had participated in since Kaiba's Battle City Tournament in Domino almost four years ago. It even rivaled his very first tournament, Duelist Kingdom, which had taken place on the private island owned by Maximillion Pegasus, CEO of Industrial Illusions and creator of Duel Monsters. Or the modern version of the game, anyway. Duel at Sea was to be held on a chartered cruise ship that would sail from San Francisco north toward the Alaskan coast. Like Battle City and Duelist Kingdom, Duel at Sea was invitation only, although each duelist was allowed to invite one non-competing guest, which is why Téa, Tristan, and Serenity, none of whom dueled at tournament level, were able to come. Serenity was Joey's guest, Tristan was Duke's, and Téa was Yugi's.

Unlike Battle City and Duelist Kingdom where he had wormed his way in merely by virtue of his friendship with Yugi Mutou, this time he actually had an official invitation. There'd been a tense week or so at first when he wasn't sure whether he'd get one after Yugi, Rebecca, and even Duke had theirs before his had come, but just before Yugi left Cairo for his dig, Joey's invitation had arrived. Over the past few years, he'd become quite a skilled duelist, often taking first place at tournaments and he was the current National Champion of Japan. Of course, he knew he'd never have won that title if Yugi hadn't removed himself completely from tournament dueling to concentrate on his accelerated studies in Cairo and Kaiba hadn't pretty much moved to America. The former he'd only beaten in friendly, private games, never in a tournament; the latter he'd never yet been able to beat, and Kaiba still took great joy in reminding him of that every time they saw each other. No matter how many trophies and titles Joey had to his name, he'd always be "second rate duelist" to Seto Kaiba.

On the bright side, ever since Egypt two years ago, Kaiba had warmed slightly to their gang—if the definition of "warmed" could be interpreted as moving from absolute zero to somewhere in the polar range, anyway—so Joey tried to take the barbs with a grain of salt, but he still itched to actually beat Kaiba in a duel. He didn't get many opportunities, however; besides dueling on the American circuit these days, Kaiba, whose only goal in life, at least when it came to Duel Monsters, was to defeat Yugi, didn't bother to go to many tournaments. But Kaiba was still the current reigning World Champion due to Yugi's semi-retirement, so he was sure to be at _this_ tournament, especially if there was a chance Yugi would be competing. Joey knew Kaiba would be as bent on beating Yugi as he himself was on beating Kaiba.

He couldn't wait.

"So Joey, did you check your e-mail from Tokyo? Any word from Yugi about what happened and when he's coming?" Téa shouted so she could be heard over the wind whipping past Duke's convertible.

Joey gritted his teeth. He was as worried about Yugi as she was, but he was getting a little sick of her constant queries about him. "Yes, I checked my e-mail from Tokyo. No, there was nothing from Yugi."

Téa's shoulders slumped, causing Joey to feel a little guilty for his irritation. She did have reason to be concerned, after all.

"Would you relax?" he said bracingly. "He said he'll be here, so he'll be here."

"He also said he'd be in Cairo two weeks ago and New York four days ago."

"He'll be here," Joey repeated with emphasis.

"I hope so, or I won't be able to get in since I'm his guest."

"Never gonna happen," Joey insisted. "He wouldn't miss this tournament for anything. I'm sure he and Rebecca are busting butt to get here. Besides," he added, a wicked glint in his eye, "you know Mokuba Kaiba's been dueling on the tournament circuit these days. I bet you could be _his_ guest. He's always had a crush on you."

"Joey, he's just a kid," Téa protested, her nose wrinkled.

"He's not a kid, he's almost fifteen now…OW!" he finished, when Téa kicked him in the shin by way of reply. "That hurt!"

"You are _so _gross," she grumbled, her arms crossed.

Serenity, who had been half turned in the front seat, listening to them over the wind, covered her mouth with her hand and suppressed a laugh. Then she asked, "So who else will be at the tournament? Anyone else I would know?"

Joey shrugged. "I don't know who's been invited. You, Duke?"

"Not really. I know Yugi's registered because the tournament officials are making a huge deal out of it, but otherwise they've kept the list kind of hush-hush. A hundred and twenty-eight of the top duelists from all over the world, that's all I know, but you can make a pretty good guess at some of them."

"Both Kaiba brothers, that's a given," Joey said. "Probably Leon von Schroeder. Mako Tsunami."

"How about Bakura?" Duke asked.

"Nah, he doesn't really compete on the tournament level much anymore. I don't think he likes to be reminded of who was actually doing the dueling for him before, if you know what I mean. I haven't seen him in a while, actually. He's been spending a lot of time in Egypt. I think Yugi's probably seen more of him than I have, at least before they left for the dig. And speaking of Egypt, I don't think the Ishtars are coming, either."

"Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood will probably be there," Duke added, and both Joey and Téa groaned.

"Man, don't those two ever quit? They are so past their prime. I don't know how they keep getting invited to these things." Joey said.

"Cheating, mostly," Duke replied.

Joey snorted. "How about Vivian Wong, think she'll be there?"

"No, she retired," Duke corrected.

"Well there's good news; that girl is nuts," Téa complained.

"Nuts, yeah, but she is _hot,"_ Joey grinned, earning him another kick in the shins.

"There are some new faces on the American scene that will probably be there," Duke went on, "though Becky would wipe the floor with them if she were still dueling here. And of course, now that Kaiba's living in San Francisco most of the time, they only shot anyone ever has at the championship here is when he's too busy to compete."

"What about you, you're a champion on the American circuit, aren't you, Duke?" Serenity asked him.

"Eh. I'm okay, but I'm nowhere near Kaiba's or Becky's league. Besides, I concentrate on Dungeon Dice Monsters too much to ever get too high up in the Duel Monster ranks."

"You got invited here," Téa pointed out.

He shrugged. "There are a lot of politics involved in tournaments like this, believe it or not. It isn't always about who's the latest champion. Yugi and Rebecca haven't competed in two years, but they're still on the list because when Yugi Mutou duels, stores sell out of booster packs, and if Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba are both dueling, it's big bucks for everyone. I tend to get invited to tournaments because Industrial Illusions wants to promote Dungeon Dice Monsters, not because I'm the greatest duelist."

Joey leaned forward and cupped his hand to his ear. "What's that? Did I just hear right? Was _Duke Devlin _actually being _modest?"_ He then fell back again and with a dramatic sweep of his arm covered his heart with his right hand. "I think I'm having a heart attack!"

"Watch it, or I might have to defend my honor in a duel, _Mutt,"_ Duke said, with emphasis. Joey raised his arm to make a gesture in response, but Téa restrained him and gave him a maternal glare.

Serenity, who had ignored the whole exchange, asked "What about Mai? Do you think she'll be there? I'm really hoping to see her again."

Joey winced. He saw Duke look at him in the rearview mirror, his eyebrows raised in silent query. Joey narrowed his eyes and shook his head slightly.

"I don't know, but I kinda doubt it," Duke replied to Serenity.

"But she still duels, doesn't she? I know I've read about her winning some major tournaments."

"Yeah," Duke said carefully, glancing again at Joey in the mirror, "She did tag team dueling in China with Vivian Wong for a while until Vivian retired. Since then I think she's mostly been on the European circuit, where she started out."

"She's not European," Serenity said.

"No, but she learned Duel Monsters in Europe when she worked on a cruise ship casino," Joey replied before he could stop himself. He immediately regretted it when this piqued Serenity's interest further.

"A cruise ship! Well, then I'm sure she'll be here since this tournament is on a cruise ship. It's perfect! Besides, it's a World Championship, not regional. There'll be people from all the major circuits, right? She wouldn't miss that for anything, and I know she had to have been invited."

"Don't count on her being here, Serenity, okay?" Joey said, irritation rising. "She doesn't hang in our circle anymore."

Leave it to Serenity to open that wound. Not that it was her fault; she'd idolized Mai Valentine since they'd first met at Battle City and Joey had never told her what had happened the following year in California or why he never spoke of Mai anymore. It wasn't what Mai did to him that still left him cringing at the mention of her name after all this time—he had long since forgiven her and saw no need in tarnishing her in Serenity's eyes. Rather, it was the fact that other than a letter of apology that she'd sent him immediately after they'd returned from California, she'd had absolutely no contact with him whatsoever in the three years that followed. Although he no longer expected or even dared hope to see her any time he entered a tournament, he still missed her and wished they could have resumed their friendship.

"So Serenity," Téa said, leaning forward in her seat, "I'm so glad you finally got a chance to visit America! You're going to love it here! You and Joey are going to do some sightseeing after the tournament before you go back to Japan, right?"

Serenity turned to Téa and with great enthusiasm began to detail their whirlwind one-week post-cruise itinerary. As she talked, Joey caught Téa's eye and shot her a grateful smile. While still listening with rapt attention to Serenity as she looked forward to seeing the Grand Canyon, Téa reached over and gave Joey's knee a small, comforting squeeze.

God, it was good to be with his friends again. And tomorrow, Tristan and hopefully Yugi would be here as well. The whole gang, together again.

**

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**

They talked over pizza at Duke's, each of them filling the others in on their current lives. They talked about the gradual growth in success of Dungeon Dice Monsters and they talked of the show Téa was dancing in and of her reasons for quitting and moving back to Domino. They talked of her college plans and Serenity's first month of college. They talked of tournaments Joey had won and tournaments he had lost.

Though they were all excited that at least half of them were together again and enjoying the chance to catch up, jetlag eventually set in. Téa was the first to succumb, as she was three hours ahead and by nine o'clock it felt like midnight to her. Joey's and Serenity's internal clocks were more confused; they had tried to adjust their sleeping schedule to Pacific Daylight Time while still in Tokyo and had slept only fitfully on the plane, but still, nine o'clock was one in the afternoon to them so Serenity wasn't quite ready for bed when Téa could no longer keep her eyes open. Téa said her goodnights, then headed off to Duke's room where she and Serenity would sleep while Joey and Duke took the sofa bed in the living room.

Alone, Téa changed into her pajamas and washed up, then slipped between the covers of Duke's comfortable bed. As exhausted as she was, however, sleep would not come easily. She was among friends again: Duke and Serenity and especially Joey. It hardly felt real. Tomorrow she would see Tristan.

Tomorrow she would see Yugi. Or at least she hoped she'd be seeing him.

_Please let him make it here, _she prayed silently.

Ever since confessing how she'd felt about him that day not long after they'd come back from Egypt, she'd regretted saying anything. In the end, it had only confused things, especially with the later discovery that he had somehow retained Atem's memories. She felt a little like she'd used him, dumping her conflicting emotions over him, Atem, and Atem's departure on him when he had enough of his own feelings to deal with. So when she went to New York, she'd resolved to just be his friend, the kind of friend he deserved, not one so self-focused. She'd made new friends, dated a little, though nothing very serious, and tried very hard to convince herself that the feelings she'd had for him before were just a high school crush.

That self-delusion fell apart the moment he'd told them he was leaving Cairo and would be out of touch for six months. Facing that long a stretch of time that would be completely devoid of him, she'd realized that rather than getting over him, she'd managed to fall hard for him instead. It was then that she'd broken up with the last of her almost-boyfriends and told herself that when she and Yugi were together again, she would find out how he felt—something she'd been too afraid to do back in Domino—and then see what was next.

But now that she was actually here in San Francisco, less than twenty-four hours away from seeing him, the thought absolutely terrified her. Would she be able to tell how he felt when she saw him? His feelings for her had always been so hard for her to read because he'd treat her with a sort of devotion that would make her think he must like her as more than a friend, but then she would realize that he treated all his friends with that kind of unflagging loyalty and affection. Would she just be making the same mistake she'd made two years ago, dumping something on him that could only burden their friendship? It had survived the last time, but could it survive two such revelations, or would he feel put upon? And her worry over his failure to return to Cairo or come to New York at the appointed times only heightened her anxiety. She'd gone from obsessing over what she would say _when _she saw him to obsessing over whether or not she'd even get to see him at all.

She took a deep breath to try and calm herself. Thinking of Yugi was not exactly helping her sleep, so she tried to let her mind drift to other things. She let one of the songs from her current show waft through her mind, feeling herself doing the dance steps even as she lay still in bed. Usually going over a dance number she knew backwards and forwards was the perfect way to lull her to sleep, but tonight it only made her think about her decision to quit dancing and move back to Domino and suddenly she was wide awake again.

She knew quitting dancing and going back to school was the right decision. She felt it in her bones that she needed to be doing something _more, _that dancing was only supposed to be a part of her life, not all of it. But moving back to Domino… that decision gnawed at her. She could have stayed in New York and gone to school there. She'd initially come to the U.S. on a student visa, then later obtained a temporary work visa when she started auditioning for shows. She could have easily gotten another student visa, and her work visa would have allowed her to work part-time to pay for school. It wasn't exactly easy to get a work visa in the U.S. and it made her nervous to give hers up and lose some of the progress she'd made toward a green card. Ultimately, she wanted to end up in the United States, not Japan, so it caused her no small amount of anxiety to take a step backwards from that goal. However, she hated New York City and it was very expensive to live there. Japan wasn't exactly cheap, but at least she could live at home while going to school, and in a couple of years she could transfer back to the U.S., somewhere less expensive than New York, and start over again.

Besides, Joey and Serenity were in Domino.

This was ultimately, she knew, the real core reason behind her decision to return to Japan, and that is what bothered her the most. At almost twenty, she was at a time in her life when she needed to think about her future, not her past, and not make decisions about where at attend school and what to do with her life based solely on being with her friends. But the truth was, she missed them too much. It wasn't that she hadn't made any friends in New York, because she had. But clearly her heart was elsewhere and she suspected a huge part of her aversion to New York was simply the fact that Joey, Tristan, and Yugi weren't there. Yugi would still be in Egypt another two years and Tristan had one more year left of active duty, but Joey and his sister both would be in Domino and she could be with them. Half the gang was better than none.

But the decision to go back did not rest easy with her. She didn't want her life to be defined by dancing, but did she want it to be defined by her friends? Of course, it always had been, hadn't it? Who was she, really? Téa Gardner, friend of Yugi Mutou. Friend of Joey Wheeler. Cheerleader. Background support. _They _were the fighters, _they _were the ones who actually _did _the something more she'd been looking for. She'd merely… watched. She used to think that when she got to New York and started dancing that she'd come into her own, that she'd finally be doing the thing that was _her _gift. And it was her gift, but it wasn't what she wanted for her life, either. But was she only going backwards? By going back to Domino to be with Joey and Serenity, was she admitting that there really was nothing important for her, that her only skill was to follow those with the _real _talents?

Then there was the fact that she'd made her decision two months ago when Yugi was out of contact and she couldn't even talk it over with her best friend first. And now that she was away from New York and in an American city she actually liked—and where another of her friends lived, she belatedly remembered—it felt even more like the wrong choice.

She sighed and rolled over. What's done is done. It was too late to renew her student visa and her work visa would soon expire. No point in dwelling on the decision now that it was too late to change her mind. Domino was a good place to live, she told herself, and Domino University was a decent school. She would be happy and she would be with some of the people she loved most in the world. Maybe in Domino she'd find her real place after all.

Taking another large cleansing breath, she let a second song from her show seep into her brain, and this time it and the jetlag finally won out over the other thoughts on her mind and she fell asleep.

**

* * *

**

After Téa went to bed, Serenity asked Duke to show her the basics of Dungeon Dice Monsters. Joey, too tired to play the game and even too tired to worry about Duke hitting on his baby sister, yet not ready to sleep, went out onto the balcony off the living room from where he had a nice view of downtown. It was a breezy May evening and the air smelled slightly of the sea.

San Francisco. He really liked this city, except… the last time he'd been here was the last time he'd seen Mai. If only Serenity hadn't mentioned her.

_Who am I kidding? _he chided himself. Being in San Francisco would make him think of Mai whether Serenity had mentioned her or not. The last time he'd seen her, they'd been dueling in a vacant lot somewhere in this city. He could probably even find the exact spot if he cared to try, but that wasn't exactly a place he was anxious to revisit. It had been an Orichalcos duel that had followed immediately on the heels of another Orichalcos duel where he'd defeated Valon, the guy who had been responsible for Mai joining Dartz's group in the first place. Completely drained from dueling Valon, he could hardly see straight during the duel with Mai and he'd lost, but he'd been glad then that he'd lost, and he was still glad now.

He couldn't help but feel partly responsible for Mai's decision to throw in with Valon and Dartz and the rest of them. He knew what the Shadow Game with Marik's _Yami _side had done to her in Battle City the year before, how her memories had been brutally assaulted and one by one her friends removed from her consciousness until she felt completely alone. She'd _seemed _fine after Marik was defeated and everyone who'd lost to him returned from the Shadow Realm, but how could he have not checked to make sure? After all she'd been through, it had been stupid to think she'd come out of it unscathed, and yet he did nothing, _nothing _to ensure that she knew she had friends, that he would always be her friend. As they'd stood there on the dock saying good-bye, he'd just stammered at her, too full of how much he cared about her to say anything at all. It took an admonishment from Téa to get him to go after her, to say _something _before she left, but even then he'd been unable to say anything of substance. She'd let him off the hook, telling him what he'd done for her had said enough, but while _she'd_ gone out of her way to say that getting to know him had been her favorite part of the tournament, all he had managed in the end was to thank her. Not one word about how much she meant to him in return.

So she'd left and when the nightmares had started, she'd had nothing to remind her that she was not alone because _he _had let her walk away thinking she was. That was why she was susceptible to Valon and to Dartz and that was why she ended up with a Seal of Orichalcos card in her deck and an Orichalcos stone around her neck. That is how she ended up dueling Joey and though he hadn't let her win, he'd been glad to lose because it wouldn't be her soul that the Orichalcos took. If his stupidity and fear of being honest about how he felt had contributed to her getting into the Orichalcos gang, then it was only right that he be the one to help get her out.

It had worked, too. In the last moments before as the Orichalcos had taken him, she'd held him, crying, apologizing for blaming him for her problems. There were vague memories after that: one of being trapped along with Mai, who had apparently lost her own soul after their duel, and also Pegasus and Yugi and forced to fight as Duel Monsters on Dartz's side of a match against the Pharaoh and Kaiba. There was another memory where he was floating in a sort of bubble talking to Yugi and Pegasus, with Mai nearby but not awake. It was the last he saw of her spirit before their souls were all returned to their bodies. In the real world, he didn't see her again at all, not even at the KC Grand Championship that followed. Mokuba had said she'd been on the list to invite, but that no one knew where she was.

Sighing, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. Thumbing through its contents, he came to a dog-eared piece of lavender stationery folded over several times. The envelope, which he'd long since discarded, had been postmarked from Spain. Though he knew most of the words by heart, he read them again in the dim light coming through the window from Duke's living room behind him.

_Dear Joey—_

_I don't know how I can begin to apologize for everything I've done. You were right, I should have never listened to Valon and Dartz. I was stupid to think slavery to power was a trade up from loneliness when all it could ever do is make things worse. I was wrong and you were the one who paid the price._

_I know that you would like to believe I was brainwashed, that I was not responsible for my choices, but I am begging you to not accept that lie merely to comfort yourself. I chose the Orichalcos and I chose to fight against you of my own free will. To believe anything else would be to deny me what I most need right now, to accept responsibility for my actions._

_I got into this mess because when the nightmares started, I chose to find someone to blame rather than to actually do something about the problem. I was lonely because I refused to reach out to those who had shown me friendship. It was easier to believe it was my friends who had abandoned me than it was to admit I actually needed them. Since you were the one who showed me the greatest friendship, Joey, it was you who I most blamed for my isolation. It was so much easier to hate you than to admit how much I missed you and I am so ashamed of that I can barely stand it. I thought that needing others made me weak, but in you I see how love for your friends makes you strong. It took seeing you fight not one, but two difficult duels just because you considered me a friend to wake me up, and then it was already too late. When I left Battle City, I thought being caught in the Shadow Realm would be the worst moment of my life. I was wrong. The worst moment of my entire life will always be watching you fall and the Orichalcos take you away and knowing it was all my fault._

_I know you deserve an apology in person, but to my further shame, I can't face you yet. I will, though, I promise you. I am going to work very hard to own up to everything I've done and to be the person I choose to be, not what I think I have to be to appear strong to others. When I've taken a long hard look at myself and really worked on changing what I don't like instead of blaming you or anyone else, then I will be able to look you in the eye and apologize face to face. Until then, this letter is the best I can do. _

_Thank you for being the truest friend I ever had. I will always regret that I was not a true friend to you. You deserved better, and I'm sorry._

—_Mai_

He sighed again and leaned against the balcony rail, letting the breeze ruffle his hair and cool his face. He knew he should throw the letter away. If she hadn't made good on her promise to face him in person after almost three years, she wasn't going to. Not that he needed yet another apology from her. He just wanted to _see _her again, to be friends again and to apologize to _her _for not being more honest after Battle City. He'd kept the letter because her honesty had deeply moved him and he wanted to be that honest with her when he saw her again. And he kept it because it was the last thing he had from her, this promise that he'd see her again some day and they'd be friends again. Some day. It was something to hang on to.

But some day wasn't coming. It was time to grow up and move on, to stop hanging on. He straightened up and looked out at the city below him. San Francisco, where it had all happened. This was the perfect time the perfect place to let go.

Biting his lip and steeling his resolve, he held the letter out before him with both hands, then closing his eyes, he tore it in half. It felt like he was tearing his own heart apart, but he continued, resolute, stacking the two halves together and tearing again. Again and again he tore until the stack of scraps was too small and thick to tear through. He held them in his fist a moment, clenching tightly, his eyes closed against the memories and the tears that threatened. At long last, he opened his hand and let the breeze carry away the scraps of paper, scattering them across the city where he last saw her.

"Good-bye, Mai," he whispered, then turned and went back inside.


	2. Obstacles

**2. Obstacles**

They ran headlong through Dulles International Airport, dodging around people and luggage. If they missed this flight….

"I always… wanted to visit… Washington, D.C." Rebecca panted. "I was just… hoping… to see more of it."

"Talk later… run now," Yugi grunted between breaths.

Normally he might appreciate Rebecca's dry sense of humor, but this current race through Dulles to catch the last possible flight to San Francisco that would get them there before their ship left port was merely the latest in a long series of disasters that would have been hilarious had it been the plot one of those travel comedy movies instead of happening to him. After two solid weeks of this, he wasn't in the mood for it.

Originally they were supposed to have arrived back in Cairo two weeks ago, which would have given Yugi plenty of time to contact his friends, pack all his things to be shipped to Domino, where he'd be staying all summer after the tournament until grad school started in the fall, and fly with Rebecca to New York to see Téa for four days before they all headed for San Francisco. However, dust storms and transportation that was spotty at best in the desert wilderness where they had been on their six-month-long dig delayed them by twelve days and they didn't arrive at the Professor's rental house in Cairo until very early Friday morning, a good four days past their scheduled trip to New York.

Immediately upon their return, Professor Hawkins had his housekeeper do their laundry so Yugi and Rebecca could repack for their trip to the U.S. He also volunteered to take care of shipping Yugi's things to Domino for him after they left, so the main thing Yugi needed to do was to go online and book new flights for himself and Rebecca. New York was completely out of the question by this point so he searched for the earliest flight to San Francisco, which routed them through Paris and Chicago. They would leave Cairo at nine o'clock that night, arriving at one o'clock Saturday morning Paris time, then take a five a.m. flight to Chicago that would give them plenty of time to get through customs and make a ten a.m. flight to San Francisco. They would land at twelve-thirty Saturday afternoon, a mere hour and a half before check-in time for the tournament cruise.

Yugi then planned to e-mail his friends, especially Téa, with apologies for his delay and his revised itinerary, and take as long a nap as possible since they'd already gone thirty-six hours without sleep. Before he got the e-mail client open, however, Professor Hawkins came in and asked to talk with him.

"Yugi, I know this trip was hard on all of us, and I'm glad to see things are finally returning to normal. I'm concerned about Rebecca, though. She was so unhappy on our expedition and while she seems to have bounced back during our return trip to Cairo, I really appreciate you watching out for her on this trip. This will be the first time she's traveled to a tournament without me."

"Of course," Yugi had responded.

"She can be… high spirited," the professor warned.

At that moment, the high-spirited girl in question barreled into the room in a panic because her passport had gone missing. Yugi suspected that maybe the professor, who like many brilliant men was often a bit absentminded, had mislaid it, but to humor Rebecca, he checked his backpack where he kept his own passport to see if hers had gotten in there by mistake. To his horror, he discovered that his was gone as well.

The two of them, with the help of the professor and his housekeeper, turned their luggage and gear from the expedition upside down, but no passports.

As soon as the Japanese Consulate in Cairo opened at nine, Yugi was there. He spent the next seven hours trying to get an emergency replacement passport while Rebecca and her grandfather were at the American consulate trying to do the same for her. By four o'clock in the afternoon, he had despaired of ever succeeding when suddenly an official handed him a brand new passport. "You must have friends in high places," the official told him.

Rebecca, apparently, had high-placed friends as well; she, too, managed to obtain a last-second replacement.

Yugi didn't have time to wonder about who pulled strings on their behalf, however. He and Rebecca had just enough time to pack before they had to leave for the airport.

A huge accident on Salah Salem Road kept them sitting in traffic for two hours, and when they finally arrived at the airport, their flight had just begun boarding and they had to run to make it in time. Yugi didn't even have enough time to use the airport internet service to e-mail his friends or even to call one of them on a pay phone to let them know he was on his way.

As it turned out, they could have had all the time in the world if only Air France had let them off the stupid plane. After rushing to make their flight, they sat on the runway in Cairo for _four hours_ because of a mechanical problem. Four hours and the passengers were not even allowed off the plane. They didn't finally take off until almost one o'clock in the morning.

By the time they arrived in Paris, it was a quarter to five Saturday morning. Yugi and Rebecca had slept maybe three hours between the two of them. A mad dash through Charles de Gaulle International Airport got them to their gate five minutes _after _their flight to Chicago had left. Exhausted and thoroughly irritated, they trudged to guest services. While Rebecca used the restroom, Yugi attempted to arrange a new flight. Although he spoke both Japanese and English fluently, knew enough Arabic to get by, and could even speak ancient Egyptian, he knew not a syllable of French, and therefore was getting nowhere with the customer service agent who was disdainful of having to do business in English.

Finally, Rebecca returned and started arguing with the Air France representative in French so flawless he thought she was a native, and suddenly they found themselves booked on a five-forty-five flight to Washington D.C. that would arrive at seven-fifteen local time, giving them four hours to get through customs and catch an eleven-fifteen flight to San Francisco. They would get to San Francisco at two-fifteen Pacific Daylight Time. Check-in for the tournament was from two to four and the ship would leave port at six o'clock. This was the last possible flight they could take and still make it to the ship on time. They made Dash for the Gate Number Three with ten minutes to spare.

So, naturally, they sat on the runway again, for two and a half hours this time.

When Yugi and Rebecca arrived in Washington, it was already nearly ten o'clock. On the upside, they'd each managed to sleep for six hours or so and were at least a little rested when they arrived. They separated for their trip through customs since she was a returning American citizen and he was a foreign visitor. Because he was originating from a country where Arabic was the primary spoken language, the customs officials were particularly thorough, searching his bags completely and questioning him endlessly about his reasons for visiting the U.S. Finally, more than an hour later, he emerged from customs to find Rebecca waiting impatiently. They now had fifteen minutes to catch their flight and it was two concourses away. Mad Dash Number Four began.

Finally Yugi saw their gate ahead. Putting on an extra burst of speed, they sprinted the last hundred yards, finally arriving… just as the gate attendant was shutting the door.

"No, wait! That's our flight!" Yugi cried out in despair.

"I'm sorry, sir," the gate attendant replied with a smile that oozed false sympathy, "but we must close the door five minutes before departure."

"But you don't understand! We've missed two busses, a train, and three flights on three different continents, and every one we did get on was late! We have to get to San Francisco, we have a ship to catch!"

"I'm sorry, sir," the gate attendant repeated.

At that instant, Rebecca came to a stop beside him and immediately burst into tears. _"My mommy's on that ship!" _she wailed. _"I haven't seen her in six months and if I miss that ship I WON'T SEE MY MOMMY!"_

At a petite five-feet with wide, soulful blue eyes, Rebecca had an almost preternatural ability to appear any age she wished. It was an act she had perfected as a dueling strategy, lulling her opponents into underestimating her by appearing to be more naïve than she was. When Yugi had first met her at age eight, she'd even pretended to discuss moves with her teddy bear to make her seem impossibly young. While she could no longer pass for a five-year-old who needed a teddy bear, at the moment she looked like a nine- or ten-year-old throwing a tantrum complete with screaming and flailing fists. It didn't hurt that her usual travel attire was a baggy t-shirt with a cartoon character on it that hid her figure, and her long, blonde hair was pulled back into pigtails.

The gate attendant look flustered. "Shh! Don't cry!" She looked to Yugi for help, but he recovered quickly from his own surprise and shrugged at her.

"Don't look at me, I'm just the babysitter. Her mom is the only one who can calm her down when she gets like this," he said a bit awkwardly. Lying did not come easy to him, so he told himself it was merely a bluff in the game of Get Me On The Stupid Plane.

"Come on, dear, we'll find another flight—"

"I DON'T WANT ANOTHER FLIGHT, I WANT _THIS _FLIGHT, I WANT TO SEE MY MOMMY ON THE SHIP IN SAN FRANCISCO!"

Rebecca was starting to attract a crowd, most of whom were giving dirty looks to the gate attendant. Yugi heard a couple of people clucking, "Poor dear."

"Okay, okay, don't cry, we'll get you on this plane, just calm down," she relented, opening the door. Yugi shoved their tickets at her and he and Rebecca bolted down the gangway and slipped into the plane just as a flight attendant was about to lock the door. They quickly found their seats, a window and center seat next to a heavy-set man on the aisle. Greatly put out at having to share his seat after all, he grudgingly moved so they could squeeze by. They crammed their carry-on bags into an already full overhead compartment, then slid down into their seats, Rebecca on the window and Yugi in the center. Drained but victorious, they exhaled a unison sigh of relief, then pounded their fists together in triumph.

"For that performance, I just might forgive you for packing so much luggage."

"Me?" she protested, pulling her glasses out of her bag and putting them on, transforming her appearance from a ten-year-old crying for her mommy to something almost adult-like. "I'm not the one who took like five hours in customs."

"It's not my fault I'm not an American citizen!"

"No, but if you didn't dress and wear your hair like some degenerate punk rocker—"

"I like my hair," Yugi grumbled, self-consciously brushing a long blond strand in front out of his eyes, then running his hand over the fuchsia-tipped black spikes in back.

"—they wouldn't have been so suspicious of you," Rebecca continued as if he hadn't interrupted. "And speaking of, that would explain how you can fit two week's worth of luggage into a carry-on bag. How much room do you need for a couple pairs of jeans and black t-shirts and tank tops?"

"We'll be on an Alaskan cruise. I fit sweaters, a fleece jacket, and a tuxedo in that bag," he said, jerking his head to indicate the compartment above them.

"Oh yay, more black," she snipped. "I, on the other hand, understand that a cruise requires a stylish and varied wardrobe."

"Which will be very helpful when your stylish and varied wardrobe doesn't make it to San Francisco. You do realize there's no way they got your bag on this plane on time."

"Of course they did. I was through customs in fifteen minutes. They had plenty of time to check my bag to San Francisco while I was waiting for _you_."

"Well, I'm just glad we made it. Now let's just hope this is the one plane we've been on in the last twenty-four hours that takes off on time."

The plane began backing away from the gate and the flight attendants gave their safety demonstration while Yugi and Rebecca watched the Virginia landscape roll by. The plane turned off the taxiway and onto the runway, then stopped. Yugi and Rebecca exchanged apprehensive glances, but then the plane began to accelerate down the runway, pressing them back into their seats, and soon they were off the ground. Both of them let out breaths they didn't even realize they'd been holding.

"We actually took off on time," Yugi breathed, relief washing over him once more. "Barring a plane crash—"

"Which with the luck we're having is likely," Rebecca interrupted.

He nodded, rolling his eyes skyward. "Good point. But we're due for some good luck so I think we'll make it before check-in ends at four."

"Good. Then you can finally stop _pining _for a certain blue-eyed brunette_."_

He gaped at her. "Pining? I don't _pine!"_

"Oh, _please,"_ she rolled her eyes. "You _so _pine. Though I don't know _what _you see in her." She sighed dramatically, as if resigned. "I suppose it's my fault. I can't blame you for being on the rebound after I broke your heart."

He growled deep in his throat. "Would you STOP SAYING THAT! YOU WERE NEVER MY GIRLFRIEND!"

The man on the other side of Yugi was staring at them now. Yugi turned crimson, muttered an apology, then glared at Rebecca. "You are _just a kid!"_ he finished, whispering fiercely, separately emphasizing each of the last three words.

She gave him a smug smile in return. "I graduated college six months before you."

"So you're a really _smart _kid, but still a _kid." _Shaking his hands at her as if restraining himself from strangling her, he added, "A really_ annoying_ kid. You are _so _lucky you're the one who got us on this plane."

"And don't you forget it!" she replied haughtily. "Was I being _annoying _then?"

"Well, _yeah_. It just worked in my favor."

She scowled. "I got us rebooked in Paris, too."

"Yes, you did," he conceded. "You're a genius, Rebecca, and I love you like a little sister, but you're still only thirteen and you don't know everything."

She gave him an odd look that he couldn't interpret and then folded her arms and looked over the tops of her glasses at him. "Oh really? So tell me, have you decided where you're going to grad school?"

He let his breath out in irritation. "Not yet."

She smiled, as if that settled it. "I may not know _everything, _but I know _pining _when I see it."

He folded his arms and turned away from her, mumbling, "I do not pine."

She snorted, but he ignored her. Not that she didn't have a point, though he would never admit it to her. The last six months had been miserable for many reasons, not the least of which was the complete isolation from his friends. Without a doubt, however, the one person he missed the most was Téa. As excited as he was to see everyone and to compete in Duel Monsters again after so long, the thing that made him so frustrated with every delay was that it would be that much longer until he saw her again. He could picture her the last time he'd seen her as they said good-bye at the Domino airport when he had left for Cairo two years ago. She'd been crying, her face wet with tears as she hugged him and made him promise to stay in touch. He did, too—with all his friends, not just her—all the way up until they left Cairo to go on the dig.

He shuddered, trying not to think about the past six months. While very educational, in many ways it had been damaging to his psyche in a way he couldn't even explain. But now he was a six-hour plane flight and a cab ride away from seeing her, from seeing all his dearest friends.

And afterwards? Well, Rebecca was right about that too. Egypt had taken a toll on all of them, not just Yugi, and two months ago Professor Hawkins had announced that upon their return he would settle his affairs in Cairo and then return home to northern California with Rebecca. She'd finished her bachelor's degree in information technology just before the expedition and had her choice of grad schools in the U.S. The professor went on to recommend that Yugi, who would receive his own bachelor's degree upon completion of the dig, should reconsider his plans to attend grad school in Cairo and instead get his master's degree in America at one of the two universities with which Professor Hawkins was affiliated. The first was the University of California Berkeley near San Francisco and the second was Columbia University in New York City.

Yugi's first reaction was to jump at the chance to go to school in New York City. The thought of being in the same city as Téa was almost overwhelming. It had occurred to him at that moment that ever since he'd solved the Millennium Puzzle, Téa had spent a large amount of time following him from tournament to tournament, supporting him and the Pharaoh in all their exploits, right down to spending her entire savings to buy tickets for herself, Joey, and Tristan to fly with him to Egypt for their last adventure. He found himself wanting to return the favor, to follow _her _for a change, to support her in _her _dreams. Two years she'd been in New York and he hadn't even gone there once to see her dance.

But at the same time, the idea of going to grad school in New York was a little unnerving. It had been two years since she'd confessed that her feelings for him went beyond friendship, but with everything so confused because of Atem's recent departure and their imminent separation, they'd never discussed it again. Not a day had gone by since, however, when he didn't think about it, didn't think about _her_ and how he felt about her.

He'd always adored her, but prior to graduation he'd just buried his feelings, believing she would never return them. But now? The problem was, two years was a long time and Téa had been living in a different world surrounded by new friends. She'd dated other guys while in New York; nothing serious, he knew, at least not prior to him losing contact with her, but still, it tended to indicate that during their time apart she'd gotten over whatever she'd felt for him—if it had ever even really been about him at all—and he was just a friend to her after all. Not that the term _friend _deserved a qualifier like _just. _His friends, all of them, were the most important things in the world to him. He treasured her friendship in whatever form, but would it be difficult to be in the same city with her if he wanted more than she could give?

That very question is what made him so indecisive. It was stupid, he knew, to base his choice of grad school on what someone else wanted, but after two years of being away, he knew what _he_ most wanted: to be with her.

And in less than eight hours, he would be.

**

* * *

**

She arrived at the waterfront early, a few hours before the check-in time indicated on her invitation. She drank some coffee at a café at Fisherman's Wharf and bought a sandwich for later, then walked over to the famous Pier 39, her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and tucked under a baseball cap pulled low on her forehead to keep the sun out of her eyes. It was a brisk morning, and she was grateful for her warm leather jacket as she walked along the pier, watching the sea lions basking in the morning sun.

From there she could look east and see Pier 35, where the _USS Chrysaor, _the ship chartered by the Duel at Sea Tournament organizers, was docked. It was a medium-sized cruise ship, with about a six-hundred passenger capacity, although for this trip she figured there couldn't be more than half that number even if every duelist brought a guest. The ship was extremely luxurious, at least according to the brochure that had come with her invitation. It carried fewer passengers than most ships of its tonnage, and had larger cabins and more amenities. Whoever was backing this tournament must have some serious cash, as the entrance fees couldn't possibly have been enough to pay for such a high-end ship at only half capacity, and that wasn't even taking into account the prizes.

At one point, the luxury accommodations and amenities of such a tournament would have been the most attractive aspect of this competition to her, but those days had long since past. She no longer dueled for money. She didn't even duel for fame or to win. She dueled because she loved to duel. She loved the strategies and the counter-strategies, she loved sizing up her opponents and finding their strengths and weaknesses and using both to her advantage, and she loved the connection she felt to the cards in her deck, particularly her treasured Harpies.

When she'd first learned to play—on a cruise ship, she remembered with a smile—the cards had been like friends to her and she'd been hooked. That was eight years ago, but it seemed a lifetime. She'd been sixteen, with a fake ID saying she was twenty-one so she could work in the casino. Somewhere along the way, she'd lost that connection and all that mattered was winning and prizes. Her life, she realized, was as fake as her ID and the memory of that life made her smile fade. It had taken her a long time to get back where she played the game simply for the love of it—for the "heart of the cards," as Yugi Mutou would call it. A couple of years ago, after she'd had to remake herself _again _following the debacle that was her life the year following Battle City, she threw out the fake ID and with it, her fake life. She was past twenty-one anyway, so there was no point in pretending to be older any longer. No point in pretending to be anything she wasn't any longer.

The only vestige of her fake life that was left was the last name she had chosen for herself when she'd run away at sixteen. When paired with her first name, it was a silly, sickly-sweet pun that only a sixteen-year-old girl (or Vegas Showgirl) could dream up, but it was more real to her now than the name she'd been born with, so she'd kept it, even went through the process of legally changing her name so she could put everything that was fake behind her and make a genuine new start.

From her vantage point on Pier 39, she looked toward the _Chrysaor. _Yugi Mutou would be there. Although for the most part the officials were trying to keep the guest list hush-hush, they were falling all over themselves to advertise that Yugi would be in attendance. The King of Games returns and all that. And if Yugi was dueling, she knew who else was bound to be there. He certainly was good enough to have been invited, anyway. She'd been following his career closely, mostly just to keep track of how he was doing, but also to make sure she never entered a tournament where he was likely to be competing. But now was the time. She'd faced her demons; now all that was left was to face him.

But not quite yet. The chaos that was sure to surround embarkation was not the right time nor place, which was why she was here so early, long before any of the other duelists or their guests would arrive. Although all the passengers were supposed to arrive within a specific two-hour window of time before they launched, she had no doubts she could get someone to let her aboard early, giving her time to find her cabin and settle in before facing them… before facing _him._

Speaking of which, if she was going to get on board that ship before the other duelists arrived, it was time to get moving. Checking her watch, she saw it was a few minutes before noon. Perfect. Hoisting her backpack over her shoulder and dragging her suitcase on its wheels behind her, she headed down the Embarcadero toward Pier 35.

As she'd planned, the pier was fairly quiet, with only dockworkers and the ship's crew around working to prepare for the voyage. The gangplank was already down, however, and she saw a man dressed in a smart white uniform and cap standing near the bottom of it, talking with a dockworker. He was in his late twenties with dark hair and dark eyes, reasonably attractive but not drop-dead gorgeous, which was a plus. The perfect mark. Smiling, she pulled the baseball cap off and shook her long, blonde hair out of the ponytail. She fished a compact and lipstick out of her backpack and did a quick touch-up job, examining herself in the compact's small mirror. Mascara perfect, with long thick lashes framing violet eyes. Lipstick needed some touching up, but that was taken care of in short order. She gave the mirror a practice smile and wink before putting the compact and lipstick back, then unzipping her jacket to show off her low-cut camisole, headed for the gangplank.

"Excuse me, captain," she said, flashing a bright smile to the crewmember, who was clearly a deputy purser and not the captain, "is this the _Chrysaor? _I'm supposed to be in a Duel Monsters tournament here."

The purser looked annoyed at the interruption at first, until he turned and got a look at her, after which he immediately smiled in return. "Yes, miss, this is the _Chrysaor, _but I'm afraid we aren't letting passengers on board until two o'clock."

"Oh no!" she replied, biting her lip in a calculated pout. The purser, she noted, was about her height, around five foot eight, but with her high-heeled boots, she was towering over him a bit. Hunching down to make herself appear less imposing and more helpless, she reached into the inside pocket of her jacket, giving her another opportunity to show off her cleavage, and pulled out the tournament invitation. "But my invitation said to check in at noon." She handed it to him for verification.

"No, miss, see here," he told her, pointing to the invitation. "It says two o'clock."

She pretended to read the invitation again, then gave him a look of dismay. "You're right! So stupid of me, I thought it said _twelve _o'clock." Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked around, as if suddenly wary of her surroundings. "Oh, what am I going to do? My cab already left and I don't have anywhere to go for two whole hours." She bit her lip again, and looked at the purser with wide eyes.

"Well, we can take your bags if you like, and Fisherman's Wharf isn't far from here. You can walk down there and do some sightseeing," he suggested.

She frowned deeper. "Oh, that just seems so _far _and I'm not feeling very well." She chewed her lip some more. "Captain, don't you think you could make an exception and let me check in now? I just want to find my cabin and rest, that's all. Otherwise I just don't think I'll be able to compete tomorrow. I won't be in anyone's way."

"I'm not the captain, miss, I'm a purser, and I really don't have the authority—"

"Oh _please?_" she begged, leaning closer to him, twirling her hair around her finger. "Couldn't you just do me this one tiny little favor?"

Now _he_ was biting _his_ lip and she knew she had him. "All right, let's see what I can do. Wait right here," he told her, then disappeared up the gangplank.

A moment later he reappeared with a clipboard in his hand and a porter in tow. He led her up the gangplank and into the entranceway of the ship while the porter took her bags. There was a long table where tournament officials were busy setting up registration. "They're not ready to register people for the tournament yet, but I can check you into your cabin and will make sure your name gets registered with the tournament officials, all right Miss…?"

"Valentine." His eyes widened just slightly at her name before he regained control and put back on his mask of professionalism. It never failed to amuse her the way men would react to her name, assuming all sorts of things from that alone. Well, okay, that and the blonde hair, short skirts, and low cut camisoles. One of these days she was going to tell one of them her first name was Bambi just to see what reaction _that _would get. But now the only thing she wanted was her cabin. "And what's your name?" she asked the purser demurely.

"My name is Evan Haines," he replied. "I'm one of the deputy pursers."

"Oh, thank you Evan, for all your help. You're just so sweet," she enthused.

"My pleasure, Miss Valentine," he replied with a beaming grin. "I just need to see your ID and travel documents."

She fished the requested papers out of her backpack and handed them to him. He looked them over and handed them back, then looked her name up on his clipboard. "Well, Miss Valentine, you must be quite high ranking. You have one of the large ocean-view mini-suites on the Aloha Deck."

"Oh, that just sounds _spectacular,"_ she gushed.

He returned his clipboard to the front desk, and then motioned for her to follow him to the elevators then up to the Aloha Deck near the top of the ship. After leaving the elevators, they walked down a narrow hallway on the port side of the ship, past a set of huge double doors on their left.

"That looks like one swanky stateroom," she remarked.

"Yes, that is our Grand Master Olympian suite. There's another one, the Grand Master Titan Suite on the starboard side of this deck. They're our best two staterooms, except, of course, for the Penthouse Suite up on the Sun Deck. The tournament host is staying there."

"Who gets the suites on this deck?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I left the room list back at the front desk. All staterooms were assigned by the tournament hosts. I guess whoever the cream of the crop is," he replied.

_I've got a good guess which two duelists will get those suites, _she thought. Figures she'd end up on the same deck as Yugi, although it was a compliment to her skills as a duelist if cabins were assigned by ranking. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to hide out from them for long.

"Your stateroom is a mini-suite. The next best thing to the Grand Master Suites," Evan told her, leading her all the way down the hall to the end. "You must be an excellent duelist."

"European champion," she confirmed, but cast her eyes down in modesty, as if she, a mere girl, were embarrassed to be so good.

"Wow. You from Europe then? You don't have an accent."

"I'm from all over," she replied vaguely.

Evan opened the door with a keycard, which he handed to her as they entered. The porter followed behind with her luggage. As promised, it was a very elegant suite with a small living area to the left and the bedroom to her right. There was a large window overlooking the ocean, rather than the tiny porthole she'd been expecting. _Not bad, _she thought. She tipped the porter and he left, while Evan launched into the welcome spiel.

"All the information about the ship and where to find things is here," he showed her, indicating a small desk near the door. "There is a mandatory Muster Drill at five and we set sail at six. Information about the drill and where to find life jackets and the location of your assigned muster station are all in the information packet."

She put on her best pouting face. "Oh, Evan, do I really _have _to do the lifeboat drill? I'm really not feeling well and I _so _need a nap before dinner tonight."

"I'm afraid it's Coast Guard regulations, Miss Valentine. You need to bring your life preserver, too."

She leaned in very close to him. "Surely you can arrange something?"

He shuffled his feet. "I'd lose my job, and it's for your own safety, so you know what to do in event of emergency."

She stood up straight and began reciting from memory, "In the event of an emergency, passengers must report to their pre-assigned muster station, which is in one of the ship's public areas. If necessary, after an assessment by the captain, passengers would be led from their muster stations to available lifeboats. The International Maritime Organization mandates that a ship must be able to be evacuated in thirty minutes." She glanced at a placard on the back of the door. "The assigned Muster Station for this deck is the Siren Lounge located on the Promenade Deck, four decks down, port side. I am to use the stairs, which are located around the corner from the elevator."

She was pleased to see his surprised expression. "I used to work on a cruise ship," she told him.

"I could lose my job," he repeated, but she could tell he was caving in.

"Oh, but it will be our little secret. Just check me off the attendance list and I'll stay here and rest."

He sighed, succumbing at last. "All right. But in exchange, you have to let me buy you a drink at the tournament kick-off ball tonight."

She smiled brightly. "Oh, that would be _lovely."_

He gave her a somewhat licentious smile and she resisted the urge to slug him as he picked up where he'd left off on the welcome speech. "Dinner is at seven and will be formal, as will the ball afterwards in the Dionysus Ballroom, where the tournament officials will explain all the rules of the tournament. The actual competition starts tomorrow morning at eight o'clock. Now," he finished, "is there anything else I can help you with, Miss Valentine?"

"No, Evan, thank you. I'm really tired; I think I'll just take a rest. It was _so_ sweet of you to let me check in early."

"No problem. I'll make sure you get registered with the tournament officials. I'll bring your badge by before dinner."

"Thank you," she said, handing him a generous tip. She then ushered him out of the room, but he was reluctant to go.

"I'll see you in the Dionysus Ballroom tonight, then."

"Yes, of course, thank you," she said quickly, shutting the door behind him. When it was closed, she leaned against it and breathed a sigh of relief. _The things I go through just to get into my room…_

_Well, not as much as I had to go through to get a room on the ship to Duelist Kingdom, _she reminded herself, shuddering at the thought of having sucked up that toad Rex Raptor, and for a room that wasn't half as grand as this one, either.

But that trip had other memories, too; ones that were at once more pleasant and more painful. It had been then, on a ship not unlike this one, where she'd met first met Joey Wheeler and his friends nearly five years ago. It seemed fitting, then, that she finally face him again on a ship. Everything significant in her life seemed to happen aboard a ship.

_Not everything, _she reminded herself. _That last duel with Joey was in a vacant lot in San Francisco._

Leaving her bags on the floor, she flopped down on the bed, feeling drained. Three years. It had been almost three years since she'd forced him into that Orichalcos duel. Three long years of taking a long hard look at herself, of trying to really improve herself, not just in dueling skills, but to truly become a better person. Well, okay, she still tended to use her looks to get what she wanted from the Evans of the world, and she knew she was still abrasive and mouthy when dealing with competitors, especially guys with big heads and over-inflated opinions of their dueling skills. But she was not afraid to face her fears, or her memories. Not even her Shadow Game with Marik, the one that had temporarily stripped her memories of her friends, giving her the nightmares that she'd been running from when she'd landed in Dartz's snare. That duel, of course, had also taken place on a ship, if you counted a giant zeppelin as a ship. She shuddered, remembering being trapped in the Shadow Realm. Remembering Joey blocking the worst of the last attack, holding her face in his hands, telling her he wouldn't leave her because they were friends.

_Why didn't I believe him?_

A million reasons, actually. Because she'd been falling for him and didn't want to be. Because he was only sixteen then and she was twenty but living as a twenty-five-year old. Because she thought maybe he'd been falling for her too, but she wasn't really sure and she didn't know which scared her more, that he might have feelings for her or that he might not. Because he never called, never wrote, never contacted her after Battle City; not that she ever called, wrote, or contacted him.

So many painful memories. She wished she could banish them once and for all, but she knew better than to fight them. The more she denied her memories, the more power they had over her, and she would not let memories of the past rule her future again.

She was not the person she was when she'd met them all on the ship to Duelist Kingdom. She wasn't the person she was at Battle City, when she'd dueled Marik. She certainly wasn't the person she was when she'd sold her soul to Dartz just to try and gain power over her nightmares. She'd learned to play Duel Monsters for the love of the game again, not to prove to the world that she wasn't worthless. She'd forced herself to reach out to people rather than to pretend she didn't need anyone, and she'd even made some friends, duelists and non-duelists she'd met in her travels. It was hard to stay close to anyone, traveling so much, but she didn't isolate herself anymore, either. The difference was, she _wanted _close friends now. She wasn't actively running from them. She could have had that kind of friendship with Joey if she'd only let it happen. Maybe it wasn't too late; maybe they could still have that friendship yet.

_If _he could ever forgive her.

That was the question that plagued her, the thing that made her put off facing him for much longer than she should have. She tried to tell herself she was going to apologize to him face-to-face for all the right reasons, because she owed it to him, and that she did not expect forgiveness. But the truth was, there was nothing she wanted more. She wanted a blank slate, to be able to start over and be the kind of friend he deserved, but she was terrified that she had done too much damage to ever take back. Joey had a whole crowd of friends, people whom he trusted and who had never betrayed him. Why on earth would he need her?

The one thing that brought her hope, however, was the Pharaoh. Funny how she'd known Yugi for two years before the whole Orichalcos mess, but it took joining up with Dartz to understand about the existence of the Pharaoh and the true significance of that stupid Puzzle thing that he always wore around his neck. But the Pharaoh brought her hope, because she knew that he, too, had played the Orichalcos card and had lost Yugi's soul the way she'd lost Joey's. If they could forgive the Pharaoh, then maybe it was possible for them to forgive her as well.

Maybe. Well, either way, she'd find out soon enough.


	3. Reunion

**3. Reunion**

When they arrived at Pier 35 a little after two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, it was already crowded. Duelists chatted or postured while pursers and dockworkers scurried around directing traffic and checking bags. There were some familiar faces; Joey spotted Leon von Schroeder and his older brother, Zigfried, whom Joey thought of as German versions of the Kaiba brothers, and Weevil Underwood, one of his least favorite people on the planet. No sign of Rex Raptor, whom Joey hated even more than Weevil, and who usually hung out with him. A few other faces looked familiar, too, even if he couldn't put names to them. There was, however, no sign of the faces he was straining the crowd to find.

_C'mon Yuge, where are you? _he wondered.

"Why don't you girls wait here while Joey and I check the bags with the porters," Duke suggested. The two of them collected all their bags and headed for the banner that read BAGGAGE CHECK.

They stood in line with a crowd of other duelists, some of whom they knew. Finally the porter got to them and took their suitcases from them, checking their names on a list and then marking the bags with numbered tags. The luggage thus taken care of, Joey and Duke headed back to find Téa and Serenity.

"He Joey, is that who I think it is talking to your sister?" Duke asked suddenly.

Joey frowned, peering through the crowd until he found Serenity. She was standing with her arms folded talking to a guy who was no taller than she was, with brown hair dyed purple in the front, all stuffed into an old red knit hat.

_Rex Raptor._

Anger bubbled up inside him as he clenched his fists at his side. "He'd better get the hell away from my sister," he muttered as quickened his pace, Duke at his heels.

As he got closer, he could overhear what they were saying. Apparently Rex had just insulted Joey—no shock there—because he heard Serenity say, "I believe Joey Wheeler has been Japanese National Champion for two years running. And who are _you _again?"

Joey saw Rex smile, apparently trying to charm her. "Trust me, sweetie, it's only because all the really good duelists have left the Japanese circuit. Yugi Mutou hasn't competed in two years, Seto Kaiba has been competing in America, and Weevil Underwood and myself have been in more _exclusive _circles."

"If by 'exclusive' you mean 'places where people duel who don't qualify for nationals,'" Téa shot back.

Rex ignored her and kept his attention on Serenity. "Just wait until this tournament, and you'll see what a _real _duelist can do, uh… what did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," she said frostily, "but it's Serenity. Serenity _Wheeler."_

If Joey hadn't been so angry, he might have laughed when Rex's eyes got as wide as dinner plates. "D-did you say 'Wheeler?'"

That was when he and Duke reached them. Before Rex could recover from his shock at hearing Serenity's last name, Joey had him by the shirt collar and had almost lifted him off the ground. Duke was at his side, looking like he'd love an excuse to pitch in and help Joey out.

"You bugging my little sister, Dino Boy?" Joey snarled. "Because if you're bugging my sister, you're gonna be _extinct."_

"How was I supposed to know she was your sister?" Rex sputtered. "Who'da thought a guy who looks like you could have sister who looks like _that?"_

Joey felt his face burn. _"WHAT?"_

Duke, on the other hand, started snickering and backed off a step. "He does have a point, Joey."

Joey glowered at Duke over his shoulder. "You shut up," he snarled, then turned back to Rex. "And you, you watch your mouth, Raptor, or—"

"What's a matter, Wheeler?" a high-pitched, sniveling voice cut in. Joey turned to find Weevil Underwood standing behind Téa. At just short of five feet tall, he barely came up to her chest and was probably the only adult duelist on the circuit who was shorter than Yugi. He still wore his greenish-white hair in a hideous bowl cut and dressed like his mother laid out his clothes for him. Pushing his round-rimmed glasses up on his nose, he continued, "You so afraid you can't beat him in a duel you have to bully him before we're even on the ship?"

"You stay out of this, Weevil, this is between me and Rex," Joey seethed.

"Oh Joey, just leave him alone," Serenity said, stepping up and putting her hand on his shoulder. Rex gave her a broad grin, but it dissolved when she looked at him like something repulsive she'd accidentally stepped in and added, "He isn't worth the effort."

"Yeah, Joey," Téa agreed. "Save it for the dueling field."

Joey gnashed his teeth a moment longer, then let go of Rex with a snort of disgust. "Fine. You'd just better pray you don't wind up in my division 'cause I'm gonna wipe the floor with you, Raptor."

Rex straightened his shirt. "I _hope _I'm in your division. You haven't got a chance, Wheeler. Everyone knows you're just Yugi's pathetic little sidekick who couldn't get into a tournament if your pal Yugi didn't weasel you an invite."

Joey lunged again, but Duke suddenly grabbed him from behind, pulling his arms back behind him and preventing him from reaching Rex. "Whoa boy."

"I'll show you who's pathetic, you freakazoid!" Joey roared, trying to wrench himself out of Duke's grasp. Rex, he was satisfied to see, scrambled backwards out of his reach.

"Speaking of Mr. 'I'm-so-special-because-I-have-a-magic-puzzle,' where is he?" Weevil put in. "I know he's been hiding out in Egypt or something, too afraid to of the humiliating defeat I owe him to compete the last couple of years, but I'd heard he would be here. I hope he isn't chickening out _again."_

Now it was Téa's turn to get angry. "Listen you little insect, pigs will fly—or Rex here will get a date—before Yugi will ever be afraid of a slug like you."

But Weevil just cackled, which Joey could tell only made her angrier. "You just tell your boyfriend I'm ready for him." Joey tried to make a swipe at Weevil for the "boyfriend" crack, knowing it would provoke Téa further, but Duke was still restraining him. Then Weevil turned to Rex. "Come on Raptor, we've spent enough time with the rabble. Let's check in and get our staterooms." He and Rex then scurried off like a pair of cockroaches.

"And stay away from my sister!" Joey shouted after them.

Téa's fists balled into hands at her side. "Ooooh, I can't _stand _those two!"

With Rex and Weevil gone, Duke finally loosened his grip on Joey's arms and Joey pulled them free. "You said it, Téa," he agreed. But he was surprised when Serenity suddenly rounded on him.

"Joey, would you stop being so overprotective! I can take care of myself, you know!"

"What are you talking about? Those guys are the biggest creeps on the dueling circuit. You think I'm gonna let them anywhere near you?"

She put her hands on her hips and drew herself up to her full height. It still only brought her to about his chin, but she suddenly reminded Joey of their mother and he took a step back. "Just how stupid do you think I am? I know a jerk when I see one, Joey Wheeler! I can take care of them my own way, thank you very much!"

"It's true, Joey," Téa agreed. "She almost had Rex whimpering like a baby when you showed up."

"That's not the point," Joey replied.

"That is _exactly _the point," Serenity retorted. "I swear, I can't get within forty feet of a guy without you going all rabid pit bull on me. Stop being such a… _big brother. _I'm eighteen and I can sort out the good ones from the losers for myself."

"They're all losers," Joey mumbled.

Serenity was about to respond when suddenly her face lit up. "He's here!" she cried, looking over her brother's shoulder.

Joey saw Téa's face light up as well—then just as suddenly droop in disappointment. He followed Serenity's gaze and saw a tall man in camouflage fatigues and combat boots walking toward them along the pier, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He had brown hair cropped short in a military-style buzz-cut under his cap, and his deep hazel eyes danced happily as he spotted them. Joey broke into a wide smile. "Tristan!" he cried out.

They all rushed to greet him, Serenity making it to him first. He dropped his duffle bag and swept her into a huge embrace. For a moment Joey felt his irritation rising again, but it was gone in a flash as Tristan greeted them all. "Hey!" he called out to all of them over Serenity's shoulder.

"Hey, Corporal, good to see you!" Joey cried, giving him a mock salute as Serenity released Tristan and stepped aside.

"You call that a salute?" Tristan scoffed, then he smiled and gave Joey a bear hug. Joey patted his back, then let Téa and Duke each take a turn as well.

"Man, is it good to see you guys," Tristan said happily, then he frowned as he looked around. "Hey, where's Yugi?"

Joey flashed a look at Téa, whose face darkened. "We don't know. He hasn't shown up yet."

"But he _will,_" Joey insisted.

"Wasn't he supposed to go to New York and then come out with you?" Tristan asked Téa.

"He got held up in Egypt, but he'll _be here,"_ Joey asserted again. "So how the heck are you, Tristan?" he said, purposely changing the subject. "The army treating you all right?"

Tristan shrugged. "It's a living," he replied.

"You liking the MP thing?" Duke asked.

"Yeah, actually, I like it a lot. It's a good gig, as GSDF jobs go. I'm thinking of maybe joining the civilian police when my tour is up. So what's been going on here? I miss any fun yet?"

"You just missed Rex and Weevil," Duke reported. "Joey almost killed Rex for hitting on Serenity."

Tristan had started to roll his eyes at the mention of Rex and Weevil, but Joey couldn't help but notice he looked almost as angry as Joey had felt when Duke mentioned Rex hitting on Serenity.

"Rex did _what?"_

"Oh for crying out loud, it was no big deal!" Serenity protested, and Joey figured it was time to drop it lest she turn into their mother again.

Joey and Duke showed Tristan where to check his bag with the porters, and when he returned he asked, "So, should we go check in or what?"

"Let's wait for Yugi," Joey replied.

"I can't check in without him anyway," Téa said gloomily. "I'm his guest."

"I told you not to worry about that," Joey said firmly, but he had to admit he was getting worried, too. It wasn't like Yugi to not only be late but to not contact any of them. And he certainly wouldn't have blown off a trip to visit Téa for no reason. What could have held him up?

"You know who else I haven't seen yet," Duke said. "The Kaiba brothers."

"Are you kidding?" Tristan snorted. "Rich boy probably has his own private entrance or got to arrive an hour early or something. He's too _special _to just walk on board with the rest of us."

"I don't know," Joey mused. "Kaiba likes to make a big entrance. It is kinda weird that he and Yugi both are this late."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Joey knew it was the wrong thing to say. Téa's eyes widened in alarm. "Do you think someone wanted to keep the top two duelists from competing?"

_When will I learn to keep my big fat mouth shut? _Joey groaned inwardly. He rolled his eyes at Téa. "C'mon, Téa, it's just a tournament. The days of intrigue and shadow games are over," he said firmly.

"I know," she retorted, "but you said it yourself. It's weird that neither one of them are here yet."

"Nah, Joey's right," Tristan jumped in. "Kaiba likes to make a big entrance. He's probably waiting 'til the last minute so everyone else can see him strut in. And Yugi probably just had a late flight."

"Two weeks late?"

"He was coming from a really remote place," Serenity added, also trying to comfort her. "I'm sure it's not unusual to be late getting back to civilization."

Joey spotted a hot dog stand down by the end of the pier. "Listen, why don't we get something to drink while we wait. I'm sure by the time we've paid for them, he'll be here."

**

* * *

**

_Guys are all slime, _Téa decided. A sweeping generalization, she knew, born out of her desire to follow any train of thought that would keep her from checking her watch every three minutes and also out of the bad mood that checking her watch every three minutes produced. Nevertheless, all evidence before her seemed to point in that direction.

She was sitting on a bench away from the rest of them, drinking her diet cola and trying with little success to silence the growing worry that was reaching panic proportions. They were at the end of the pier near the street where they could watch as cabs arrived and unloaded passengers. She looked on as many of the other duelists they knew came over to greet them and to posture about who was ranked where. To a person, every single male among them gravitated toward Serenity. Not that this was surprising, really. She knew Serenity was beautiful. She was petite and shapely, slightly shorter than Téa with long auburn hair and hazel eyes framed by long lashes. As long as Téa had known Serenity, she had been second only to Mai in her ability to attract attention from the opposite sex. Mai, however, was very conscious of her power over stupid drooling males and used it to her advantage, whereas Serenity tended to not be fully aware of how often guys hit on her and embarrassed when she was aware of it. Then again, given how she'd handled Rex, maturity had given her a bit more poise and confidence in dealing with admirers. Téa had never been resentful of the attention Serenity received in the past, but today it really grated, bringing into sharp focus how much she missed the one guy she knew who had never given Joey's sister so much as a second glance.

Unable to stop herself, she checked her watch again. Three twenty-three. Less than forty minutes before they had to all be checked in whether Yugi had arrived or not.

_But I'm not thinking about that, _she told herself, resolute. _I'm thinking about how guys are slime._

She watched as Mako Tsunami, someone she generally liked, came over and—big surprise—introduced himself to Serenity. While Mako talked with Joey and Tristan, Duke looked her way. She turned away, looking down the pier, which was growing less and less crowded as the duelists made their way onto the ship.

"Don't worry, he'll make it."

She looked up to find Duke standing above her. He sat down next to her on the bench and took a sip from his can of root beer.

But Téa didn't want to be encouraged and she didn't want to think about Yugi's absence. "Why are men such jerks?" she griped instead.

"Uh… is this a rhetorical question?"

She looked at him. "No, I really want to know. Why are men such jerks?"

"One guy is late—probably for a very good reason—and now we're all jerks?"

"I'm not talking about Yugi," she said peevishly, "I want to know why every single male on this pier—you and Tristan included—feels compelled to flirt with Serenity. It's not like she's a Mai Valentine, flaunting herself so that everyone notices her. What is it about her that turns guys into drooling idiots?"

Duke raised his eyebrow at her. "Uh… she's a beautiful girl and we're guys?"

It was, of course, the answer she expected, but somehow it aggravated her more. "So what, just because she's beautiful you _have _to flirt with her?"

Duke considered this a moment. "Pretty much, yeah."

Téa snorted in disgust. "You're all pigs."

"All your best friends are guys and you're just figuring this out now?" Duke joked.

"That's another thing," she said. "I've been around all these guys for _years _and none of them have even looked at me twice. Do I have a hump on my back or something?"

"_What?"_ Duke asked, taken aback.

"Well, according to your little theory, if a girl is pretty a guy has to hit on her. If this is true, then logically, if a girl isn't getting hit on, she must be ugly."

"You're kidding, right? You don't seriously want any of _these_ guys hitting on you, do you?"

"Of course I don't, but that's not the point," she said, not really even knowing what the point was other than that she was irritable and wanted someone to take it out on.

"Téa, you _are _pretty. You're just, uh… off limits."

This answer surprised her. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, taking a sip of her soda.

Duke gave her a wicked grin. "You're Yugi's girl."

Téa choked on her soda. "I'm _what?" _she cried, her face turning crimson. She didn't know whether it was more from anger our embarrassment. "Who says?"

"No one says, it just is," Duke replied.

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! I am _not _Yugi's girl!"

"You _so _are," he laughed, "everyone knows it." He leaned toward her conspiratorially. "We're just waiting for the two of you to figure it out."

Téa clenched her fists and growled. "I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

"Think about it," he continued. "Not a single guy on the dueling circuit has ever asked you out, but when you were in New York with people who have never heard of Yugi Mutou, you got asked out a lot. Why do you think that is?"

She didn't have an answer for that. Then she saw how much fun he was having at her expense. "Oooh, you're just making this up to provoke me!"

"I am not!" he denied. He looked up toward where Joey and Tristan were both trying to pry Mako away from Serenity. "Hey Mako, come here a minute," he called out, motioning over the very odd but amiable ocean-loving duelist.

"Duke, what are you doing?" Téa whispered in warning.

"Proving my point," he replied, smiling at Mako as he approached.

"Hello, Duke, what can I do for you?" Mako asked.

"Mako, what do you think of my friend Téa here?" Duke asked.

Téa wanted to disappear on the spot. "I'm going to _kill_ you," she whispered to Duke out of the side of her mouth.

Mako, however, seemed unperturbed by the strange question. As if Téa weren't sitting right there, he told Duke, "She's a very nice girl. I've always liked her."

"Pretty, right?" Duke prompted.

_Kill me now, _Téa prayed, sinking down into the bench, mortified.

Mako looked at her a moment as if to verify for himself first, then again answered Duke as if she weren't there. "Very pretty, yes."

"Would you ask her out?" Duke went on.

Mako immediately shook his head. "Of course not. She's Yugi's girl."

"Thank you, Mako," Duke said.

"No problem," Mako replied with a good-natured wave. "I'll see you all on the ship! And you'd better watch out! On the sea, we'll be in _my _element."

"See?" Duke turned to her in triumph when Mako was gone.

"I hate you," she spat.

He just grinned at her.

"And I hate your entire gender. What kind of garbage is this?" she raged. "First of all, I'm my own person, not anyone's _girl. _Second, I would think if anyone has a right to decide whose girl I am, it would be me."

Duke shook his head. "The thing is, Téa, it _is _your decision." He then got up and went back to join Joey, Tristan, and Serenity before Téa could even figure out what he meant by that.

"Duke!" she called after him, getting up to follow him, but commotion near the street caught their attention before she could finish what she was going to say. She reached the rest of them as they looked to see a black stretch limousine pulling up to the curb. It stopped and a uniformed chauffer jumped out and ran around the car to open the back door. A tall man in his early twenties emerged. He had piercing blue eyes that peered out from under thick brown hair and was wearing an expensive suit and a long black duster that swirled dramatically behind him as he stood and turned. A second figure followed behind, a teenager several inches shorter than his companion, wearing a white leather jacket over a black t-shirt and black jeans. He had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail and clear, grey-blue eyes.

"Told you," Tristan said. "Kaiba just loves to make an entrance."

* * *

Joey watched as Seto Kaiba made a big show of ordering around his lackeys who scurried to the trunk of the limousine to retrieve luggage and find a porter to cart it for them.

"Oh brother," Tristan groaned quietly beside him. "He hasn't changed much in two years, has he?"

"Not a bit," Joey agreed. "Just watch. The first thing out of his mouth will be what a bunch of losers we are."

"Never mind how many times we've worked together. He's just gotta stay above everyone."

Joey turned to Tristan with a crooked smile. "We need to give our old _buddy_ a proper greeting."

Tristan's eyes glinted mischievously. "I think you're right, Joey."

The luggage attended to, the twenty-one-year-old CEO looked down the pier and almost immediately caught sight of their group. "Well, well. Looks like the geek-fest has already started."

Joey smirked at Tristan.

"Nice to see you again, too, Kaiba," Téa deadpanned.

Joey and Tristan glanced sideways at each other and Tristan gave a slight nod of his head. As one, the two of them flung themselves at Kaiba, almost knocking him backwards a foot. They both wrapped their arms around his neck and cried out "Kaiba, buddy! It's _so _good to see you!"

Kaiba howled in surprise, then recovered quickly and shoved them off with a grunt, pushing them to the ground, nearly knocking the wind out of Joey. "What do you think you're doing? Get off of me, you pathetic losers!"

Joey and Tristan burst out laughing. Their friends, at first as stunned as Kaiba had been, joined in, and even Kaiba's younger brother, who had just emerged from behind the luggage, was stifling a laugh. Kaiba brushed off his coat as if they'd contaminated him.

"Hey Joey, Tristan," Kaiba's brother greeted them with a half smile, his genuine enthusiasm in stark contrast to his brother's calculated indifference. He went over to them and held out his hand to help them up.

"Mokuba?" Tristan asked, getting his breath back from laughing. He grasped Mokuba's outstretched arm and allowed the teenager to pull him up. "Dude, I wouldn't have recognized you!"

Mokuba shrugged. "Yeah, I was, what, twelve the last time you saw me in Egypt? I was a little shorter then," he grinned, holding his hand out to about waist level in front of him.

"Hey, Mokuba, good to see you," Joey said when he got to his feet. Unlike Tristan, he had seen Mokuba a few times over the past couple years. They clasped hands, then pounded their fists together in greeting as the others gathered around to say their hellos.

"I'm with Tristan, Mokuba, you've really grown up," Téa said, giving him a hug. "You're as tall as I am! What are you, fifteen now?"

"I will be in July, yeah," Mokuba confirmed.

Then he shook hands with Duke, and last Serenity.

"Hi, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Serenity, Joey's sister," she said, holding her hand for a shake.

"Of course I remember you," he said, flashing her a wide smile as he shook her hand.

"Watch it," Joey growled, cuffing him on the shoulder. Mokuba just laughed and turned away.

"Come on, Mokuba," Kaiba said, stepping over to his brother. "We don't need to waste our time with the Dweeb Patrol."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest, Seto, will you? Just because you don't want to have any friends doesn't mean I can't."

"We need to check in," Kaiba said, "it's almost four o'clock."

"It's not _my_ fault we're late," Mokuba sniffed.

"Had to make sure everyone was here to make a big entrance, eh Kaiba?" Joey asked.

"Oh please, like I don't have better things to do with my time than show off for the wannabes. If you must know, something came up at Kaiba Corp that required my attention. I do have a company to run, you know."

"Something's _always _coming up at Kaiba Corp," Mokuba countered.

"Because there's always someone looking to get control," Kaiba replied. "And it's half your company, too, Mokuba. You should be a little more concerned when it's under threat."

Joey leaned in to Mokuba conspiratorially. "Still as dramatic as ever, huh?"

Mokuba snorted, then to his brother said, "Okay, fine, Seto, but you took care of it and we're here now, so let's _try _to have fun, okay?"

"Oh, believe me, I will have fun when—" Kaiba stopped mid-sentence and looked around. "Wait a minute, where is Yugi?"

Mokuba looked around, too. "Hey, that's right, he's supposed to be at this tournament. Where is he?"

"He got held up," Téa replied.

"But he's _on his way,"_ Joey insisted, giving Téa an intent look.

"Well, what's he waiting for?" Kaiba asked. "Everyone is supposed to be checked in by four and it's quarter 'til now."

Joey sighed. He had to admit, it didn't look good. He glanced at Téa, who was biting her lip in discouragement. "I'm sure they'll give him a little extra time since he's coming all the way from Egypt," Joey said, "but maybe the rest of us should check in." He turned back to Mokuba. "You didn't invite a guest, did you? Can you check Téa in as your guest since Yugi's running late?"

"Sure," Mokuba agreed. The arrangement did nothing to improve Téa's cheerless expression.

Kaiba, however, looked even more sour than she did. "This is just great! Yugi better not have backed out again; I've been waiting for a long time for a re-match. I've got better things to do than compete at a tournament with a bunch of second-rate hacks. I came for a _challenge."_

"Oh, don't worry, Kaiba, you'll get your challenge."

In unison, seven heads turned toward the street where a cab had pulled up to the curb behind Kaiba's limo while they were talking. A short young man with spiky, tri-colored hair stood beside an even shorter blonde girl, a determined expression in his violet eyes.

Yugi Mutou had finally arrived.


	4. The USS Chrysaor

**4. The _USS Chrysaor_**

It was pandemonium as Yugi suddenly was swallowed by a mob of his friends, all clamoring to embrace him simultaneously. Téa alone stood back with the Kaibas, at first so overwhelmed by relief that her legs felt like water and she couldn't move.

"Yugi!" she heard Joey's nasal twang call out, "Buddy, we were beginning to think you weren't gonna make it!"

"You and me both," she heard Yugi confirm from the middle of the mass of people and her heart almost skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. _He's here. He's really here, and he's okay…_. His voice was deeper than it used to be, something she'd noticed the last time she'd talked to him on the phone just before he left Cairo six months ago, but not as deep as what she thought of as his "game voice"—the Pharaoh's voice—like what he had used to address Kaiba when he first arrived.

"What the heck happened?" That was Tristan.

"What _didn't _happen? If there's a way to miss a bus, train, or plane, we found it. And then we finally make it to San Francisco and Rebecca has to try on _fourteen_ different outfits before we leave the airport."

"It was only _three," _Téa heard Rebecca reply tartly. "I _told _you my luggage would make the flight. And by the way," she added, addressing all of them, "is anyone going to say hello to _me?"_

"Becky!" Duke called out and he pulled her away from the group and whirled her around in a tight hug.

The group finally parted and Téa could see Yugi now, flanked by Joey and Tristan. He looked taller than she remembered. His eyes looked somehow different, too; more intent and guarded. It occurred to her that he looked like Atem, but that wasn't quite right, either. More like a fusion between the old Yugi and Atem. He was looking around, a slightly troubled expression on his face.

He saw her then, and when their eyes met, he suddenly looked less like the Pharaoh and more like Yugi. His face broke into a broad smile. "Téa."

Finally her paralysis broke, and in three long steps she was in his arms. He hugged her tightly, his chin resting on her shoulder. He definitely was taller, only an inch or so shorter than her instead of five like he was when she last saw him, which suddenly seemed three lifetimes ago. His arms felt strong around her, like he'd added muscle mass in addition to growing taller, though he looked as lean as ever. A familiar scent washed over her; a mixture of soap, hair gel, and something else indefinable that she always associated with Yugi and it brought with it the overpowering reality of his presence. He was _here, _really _here, _together with her once more.

"Yugi," was all she could manage to say.

"Boy, have I missed you." he said, still holding her.

"Me too. We were starting to get worried when we didn't hear from you when you were supposed to be back in Cairo."

"I know," he said. "I am _so _sorry. We just had the worst luck getting back to Cairo, and then getting _out _of Cairo and every time I tried to e-mail or call, we ran into some new disaster." He pulled back enough to look at her, his hands still looped around her waist. "Man, Téa, you… you look amazing!" he said, then blushed, looking even more like the old Yugi.

She blushed, too. "Thanks. You look great, too. You're taller!"

"Yeah, just think, when you wear heels I'll almost come up to your chin now," he said wryly and she laughed, then pulled him back into one more hug. "God, it's good to see you, Yugi. I'm _so _happy you're here!"

"As touching as this little reunion is, we should probably all go and check in. I have a tournament to win," Kaiba cut in impatiently.

Yugi pulled back from Téa again, and she let him go with great reluctance. He stayed close beside her, however, with Joey and Tristan also grouped around them. The four of them, together again at last. Téa was so happy she thought her heart might burst in her chest.

"We're coming, Kaiba. I wouldn't miss beating you for the world," Yugi retorted, game voice back. "Just let me get our bags."

"I already took care of that," Mokuba told him. "I had Roland take them with ours," he said, indicating Kaiba's assistant, who was already rolling a dolly stacked with luggage, including Yugi's and Rebecca's bags, down the pier toward the ship.

"Mokuba?" Yugi asked in that middle-ground voice that seemed halfway between the old Yugi and Atem. He smiled and stuck out his hand to clasp the younger boy's. "Geez, look at you! You're taller than I am!"

"Yeah, _there's _a lofty goal," Mokuba replied dryly.

"Ooh, you are _definitely _a Kaiba," Yugi shot back, but he was grinning happily. "Thanks for getting our bags."

"No problem," Mokuba told him as all nine duelists and guests headed toward the _Chrysaor, _the Kaibas in the lead with Joey, Yugi, Téa, and Tristan following behind and Duke, Rebecca, and Serenity bringing up the rear.

"So tell us what happened," Joey prompted Yugi. "You weren't in any trouble or anything, were you?"

"No," Yugi shook his head, "we just kept running into snags getting back to Cairo. Sand storms, missed busses, a car that never showed, that sort of thing. We didn't get back until early Friday morning, and then we lost our passports—"

"Our passports were _stolen," _Rebecca interrupted, elbowing her way between Yugi and Téa from behind. Téa tried hard not to grimace.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Rebecca, your grandpa probably just misplaced them. You know how he is."

"Your passport too?" she countered skeptically. "Why would he even be anywhere near _your_ backpack? I'm telling you, there's no way _both _of us lost our passports. The last time we had them was on the train in Al Bawiti. They've been sold on the black market by now."

"Maybe," Yugi shrugged, "but—" He was cut short, however, when Rebecca tugged on his arm so hard she pulled him off balance, away from the rest of them. "Rebecca!" he cried out.

"Come _on, _I've seen snails move faster than you! I want to check in," she urged.

"And I want to see my friends," Yugi protested, but he hadn't regained his balance enough to resist.

Téa could've sworn she saw an impish glint in Rebecca's eye as she tugged Yugi away. "One of these days I'm going to _strangle _that girl," she muttered under her breath.

Not under her breath enough, apparently. "You're looking a little green, there, Téa," Joey teased. "You do realize she's just a kid."

"A really incredibly annoying kid," Téa seethed.

"Okay, you got me there," he conceded.

At that moment, Mokuba stopped in front of them and turned to Yugi and Rebecca. "Hey, now I remember you. You're Rebecca Hawkins, right? You dueled in the KC Grand Championship a couple years ago, and you helped Seto stop those Paradias creeps from taking over Kaiba Corp. You're _awesome _with computers."

Rebecca stopped short so suddenly that Yugi stumbled into her. She let go of his arm and pushed him off of her as if _he _were the one who had been imposing himself on _her. _Flushing slightly, she replied, "Thank you. You're Mokuba Kaiba, right?"

"That's right. Are you in the tournament?"

"Yes, I am," she replied coyly, walking beside him as they turned to continue on their way behind Kaiba, Yugi and the others completely forgotten.

The rest of them stood behind, gaping. "Hey Yuge, you bribe Mokuba or something?" Joey asked, incredulous.

"With what?" Yugi replied. "He can buy and sell me ten times over. I think he just became my new best friend, though," he grinned, then slipped back into place between Téa and Joey.

"Hey, that positions been filled," Joey laughed, throwing his arm around Yugi's shoulders and giving him a half hug. "Man, Yuge, it's good to see you again. Things just haven't been the same without you."

"Yeah, I haven't had anyone try to steal my soul even once the past two years," Tristan quipped.

"It's still early yet," Duke added from behind them, "he only just got here."

"Thanks a lot, guys," Yugi retorted sarcastically. "It's so nice to know I can count on my friends."

"Don't listen to them, Yugi," Serenity put in. "They've all just been bored out of their minds since you went to Egypt. We're all glad you're back."

"Thanks Serenity," Yugi said. He then turned to Téa. "You okay? You're awfully quiet."

She smiled. "Mm hm. I'm just so happy we're all together."

He nodded. "I'm really sorry I didn't make it to New York. We really tried to get back on time."

"I know. " She snaked her arm through his and gave it a squeeze. "You're here now, that's what matters."

**

* * *

**

The long registration table set up just inside the gangway of the _Chrysaor_ was crowded with duelists signing in to get their tournament badges and their cabin assignments. Yugi recognized many of them, but there were many new faces, too. Two years was not only too long to go without seeing his friends, it was too long to go without competing. He watched as old friends and rivals greeted each other, compared decks, showed off new and rare cards, and checked rankings. The atmosphere was so familiar, it was like coming home.

As they entered and approached the registration tables, conversations began to die as all eyes turned toward them. An official wearing a black jacket with the "Duel at Sea" logo emblazoned on the back rushed over. He was a little on the heavy side, with sandy hair that was starting to gray at the edges and a ridiculously large and comical moustache. "Well, well, well, here at last, our most honored guests," he gushed as he approached, clipboard in hand.

Joey stepped forward. "That's right, folks, Joey Wheeler, Japanese National Champion has arrived!"

They all groaned, and Tristan yanked Joey backwards by the arm. "Not you, you moron!"

"Yugi Mutou!" the dueling official gushed, stopping in front of him. "Welcome to Duel at Sea! I am Geoffrey Goradon, President of the International Duel Monsters Tournament Commission. On behalf of the Duel Monsters Duel at Sea Tournament organizers, I welcome you. We are honored to have you competing with us!" He then turned to Kaiba, standing a few feet away, arms crossed and scowling. "And Mr. Seto Kaiba, our other honored guest! Welcome! Please, if you both will follow me, I will be happy to register you."

Yugi felt his cheeks flush. "Um… isn't this the line to register?" He pointed to a crowd of people waiting.

"Oh, no, no, no, you are our _special _guests. I've already pulled your registration packets and left them at the Purser's Desk. Please allow me to personally register you, right this way."

He made a broad sweeping gesture with his arm, then turned and headed away from the gangway into the main lobby. Yugi and Kaiba followed, along with Mokuba, Rebecca, Joey, Téa, Tristan, Duke, and Serenity. When they entered the lobby, Yugi stopped short and stared. A huge banner hung above the purser's desk, proclaiming:

DUEL AT SEA WELCOMES THE RETURN OF YUGI MUTOU, KING OF GAMES!

Other, smaller banners were spaced around the room with his various titles:

YUGI MUTOU: DUELST KINGDOM CHAMPION!

YUGI MUTOU: BATTLE CITY CHAMPION!

YUGI MUTOU: KAIBA CORP GRAND CHAMPION!

YUGI MUTOU: WORLD CHAMPION!

As they entered the lobby, crewmembers and tournament officials all stopped what they were doing and applauded.

Yugi felt his face burn, and he would have been eternally grateful if a hole had suddenly opened in the deck and swallowed him. Kaiba sniffed in disdain. "'World Champion?' Please. You haven't dueled in two years."

"He also never actually _lost _the title," Joey was quick to counter.

Yugi said nothing. While he certainly wasn't above exchanging barbs with Kaiba one on one or in the dueling ring, he was very uncomfortable with the celebrity status he'd achieved in dueling circles and did not want to draw any more attention to himself than the banners were already causing.

Mr. Goradon led them to the purser's desk. "I just need to see your travel documents and passports," he told them. Yugi and Kaiba each handed over their passports and papers, to which Mr. Goradon only gave a cursory glance. After handing their papers back, he pulled out two registration packets. "Yugi Mutou. Here is your tournament badge. Please wear it whenever you are competing." He handed Yugi a black badge with YUGI MUTOU printed in large white letters and WORLD CHAMPION printed below. Kaiba sniffed again and Yugi accepted his badge with a mumble of thanks.

"And Mr. Kaiba, here is your badge." Kaiba's was the reverse of Yugi's, white with black letters that read SETO KAIBA and WORLD CHAMPION.

"After this tournament, only one of us will get to keep that title," Kaiba remarked.

Now that they were no longer the center of everyone's attention, Yugi felt more in his element. "Yes. I hope you don't miss it," he shot back.

Once again, Joey pushed his way forward. "Joey Wheeler," he announced. "Japanese Na—"

"Excuse me, Mr. Weasel—"

"_Wheeler,"_ Joey grumbled.

"Uh… yes," Mr. Goradon replied. "The registration table is back by the gangway." He turned back to Yugi and Kaiba. "Now, Mr. Mutou and Mr. Kaiba, I'll be happy to arrange for a steward to show you to your staterooms."

"What about my brother, Mokuba Kaiba?" Kaiba asked. "He is a contestant as well."

Mr. Goradon checked his clipboard. "Oh yes, of course. I see he will be sharing your suite. I can register him right here as well. Let me get an assistant purser to retrieve their registration materials," he said in a rather sycophantic manner as he motioned over someone from the ship's crew.

Joey was about to boil over next to him, so Yugi put his hand on his friend's arm to calm him. "Excuse me, Mr. Goradon? I would appreciate it if you would register my friends and our guests as well. They would have been registered by now if they hadn't waited for me to arrive. Otherwise, I'll just go with them to the registration tables and we can get our rooms later."

Yugi could tell he was torn. While he clearly wasn't the type who could abide giving preferential treatment to anyone who wasn't either a world champion or very rich, he had already made a big show of ushering Yugi away from the registration tables. Yugi frankly would have preferred to register with everyone else, but now that he was already signed up, he didn't want to be put above his friends. He was especially sick of people dumping on Joey, who as Japanese National Champion deserved more credit than everyone gave him. It bothered him that Joey always seemed to have to walk in his shadow, even after he'd been away from dueling for two years while his friend had become a title-holder in his own right.

"Oh, very well," Mr. Goradon sighed. "Give me your names and I'll send for your registration packets."

He checked everyone's travel documents and passports—Yugi's friends more carefully than Yugi's or either Kaiba's, Yugi couldn't help but notice with annoyance—while they waited for the steward to return with their packets. When he appeared, Mr. Goradon distributed their badges. Joey's badge was blue and proclaimed him JAPANESE NATIONAL CHAMPION. Duke's was red and labeled him NORTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL FINALST. Rebecca's yellow badge said U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPION, although like Yugi, she was really the former champion due to her two-year absence from dueling. Mokuba's badge was green and was labeled PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGIONAL CHAMPION. Tristan, Téa, and Serenity all got brown badges with their names and GUEST printed on them.

Once they were all registered with the tournament, Mr. Goradon arranged for stewards to show them to their staterooms. As per their requests on their initial entrance forms, Yugi, Joey, Duke, and Tristan were all rooming together in one cabin and Téa, Serenity, and Rebecca in another. "Are you sure you wouldn't like a private suite, Mr. Mutou?" Mr. Goradon asked him.

Yugi by now was thoroughly annoyed with Mr. Goradon. "No, I would like to room with my friends, please," he said with strained patience.

Finally two stewards led them all away from the ingratiating tournament official and toward a bank of elevators. They rode up to nearly the top level, the Aloha Deck. When they reached their deck, Yugi and his friends parted company with the Kaibas as one steward led the latter two to the starboard side of the ship while the other led Yugi and his friends down a passageway on the port side. He stopped at a huge set of ornate double-doors, swiped a key card through the slot, opened the doors, and ushered them in.

Yugi sucked in his breath when they stepped into the stateroom. He heard Téa and a couple of the others gasp. Tristan let out a low, long whistle.

The room they had walked into was the living room of an enormous suite. Directly across from them was a sliding glass door that opened onto a private balcony overlooking the ocean. There was a long, sectional sofa that curved in a semi-circle around a low coffee table in the center of the room, and a dining room table with eight tall-backed chairs in the far corner. Besides the double doors through which they'd entered, there were four other doors that led out of the room, two in the wall on Yugi's left and two on his right. Their bags were already there, Yugi noticed, stacked neatly by the doors on either side of the living room. He saw his suitcase by the door on the right and recognized Rebecca's bag among those on the left.

"This is our Grand Master Olympian suite," the steward explained. "Our best suite for the tournament's top duelist. There's a bedroom and a bathroom on either side, and each bedroom has its own exit to the hallway." He turned and showed them a desk behind him and picked up a thick folder. "This packet has all your information about the ship." He went on to explain about the mandatory lifeboat drill before the ship set sail, and about the formal dinner and ball later that evening.

Putting the packet back on the desk, he folded his hands behind his back. "If there's anything else you need, please don't hesitate to call. My name is John and I will be your steward for this trip."

"Thank you, John," Yugi said as he reached for his wallet. Duke beat him to it and handed John a tip. The steward bowed, then left them alone, closing the double doors behind him.

"All right!" Joey shouted as he flung himself onto the circular sofa. "Is this living or what?"

"Sure beats my barracks," Tristan agreed, flopping down on the opposite side of the couch from Joey and folding his hands behind his head. "I could definitely get used to this."

There was a squeal from the bathroom on the left, and Serenity emerged, her face radiant. "Oh, you should _see _the huge tub in here! I could soak in there for hours!"

They explored the suite a little more. The balcony extended the entire length of the suite and sliding doors led into each bedroom as well as the living room. The bedrooms weren't quite as grand as the living room, but considering this was a ship and space was at a premium, they seemed enormous to Yugi.

"Hey, check this out," Joey said, examining a map of the ship from the information folder the steward had left on the desk. "This ship has a mall on the Promenade Deck, a spa, two pools, a movie theater on the Fiesta Deck, a weight room and a gym with a basketball court on the Holiday Deck, and _seven _different restaurants… with all meals paid for, all you can eat!"

"The cruise line's going to go bankrupt with you aboard," Tristan told him.

They brought their bags into the bedrooms and pulled out their formal wear to hang and air out. Serenity consulted the map and suggested they watch the ship set sail from the Sun Deck at the top of the ship after the lifeboat drill. Once they were at sea, they could return to the suite and get ready for dinner.

Soon an announcement came over the ship intercom declaring the start of the mandatory muster drill. They grabbed lifejackets out of the closets, then headed out of the suite towards the staircase, which the announcement had instructed them to use rather than the elevators.

"This trip is gonna be so much fun," Joey exclaimed. "I can't wait for the tournament tomorrow. This is the year I'm finally going to kick Kaiba's butt, I can feel it in my bones." He grinned at Yugi. "Maybe I'll even beat _you _this time."

"Ha! You can try," Yugi replied, then laughed. "You're right though; this is going to be great. I haven't competed just for fun since, oh, it would have to have been the KC Grand Championship almost three years ago."

"Dueling for fun, what a concept," Téa laughed.

"No souls to save, no monsters come to life," Tristan added.

"Nope, those days are behind us. This trip is just going to be about fun and friends," Yugi smiled as they joined a crowd of other passengers headed out the doors and down the stairs to their assigned muster station.

**

* * *

**

On a luxurious Lear Jet flying west over the east coast of the United States, a lone passenger sat in his high-backed leather seat, a thick, leather-bound volume open before him. Text in Arabic lined one side, while the facing page held Egyptian hieroglyphics. Tracing a line with his finger down the page, he followed the hieroglyphics until he came to an illustration that depicted seven magical items. The Millennium Items. The entire focus of his life for more than a decade. They had all been lost two and a half years ago when that idiot boy Yugi Mutou sent the Nameless Pharaoh back to the spirit world.

Of course, he knew the pharaoh's name, he just didn't think he deserved one. _Atemu,_ if transliterated directly into the Roman alphabet, but pronounced _Atem,_ not that he would ever lower himself to pronouncing it; the pharaoh that, along with his successor, Seto, ended the Shadow Games, sealing them for thousands of years in the Millennium Items, keeping the pharaohs and sorcerers who came after them from accessing their power. Then, as if that weren't bad enough, the same pharaoh, reborn in the young high school student from Japan, did it again in the modern age by burying the Millennium Items themselves. If he'd have only arrived in Egypt even a week earlier, he could have saved the Millennium Items and things would have been so much simpler. But what's done was done and there was no point in dwelling on it. It had taken him two years, but he now had what he needed to access the power of the Shadow Games, and soon the time of the _true _pharaoh would begin. Atem had been a nobody, nameless until just two years ago. Real pharaohs had names. Real pharaohs did not throw away their power.

"Excuse me, sir," the flight attendant interrupted. "There is a call for you."

"Thank you," he replied in a crisp English accent, then picked up the air phone from the seat beside him. "Yes?"

"We're about to set sail," the voice on the other end informed him without preamble.

"And?"

"They both checked in about an hour ago."

He frowned. "Both of them?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do we know how they both managed to make it on time?"

"Not sure. Someone pulled some strings with both the Japanese and American consulates to get Mutou and that Hawkins girl reissued passports."

_I'll bet I know who, _he thought, sourly. Pity, too, since he had relieved them of their passports personally.

"I understand your guys in Cairo even arranged a mechanical delay that held them up for four hours so they'd miss their connection in Paris, but they managed to get another flight. I heard Homeland Security was extra paranoid about foreigners traveling from the Middle East and he almost didn't make it through customs in time at Dulles, but the guy clearly leads a charmed existence. They got here just in time."

"And the other?" he asked, impatiently.

"There seemed to be some outside help there, too. The labor dispute you orchestrated fell apart at the last hour when a mediator appeared out of nowhere and negotiated an agreement. Your guy in Kaiba Corp is pretty sure there were bribes involved, but it's doubtful they came from Kaiba. That guy is just too tight with a buck and too stubborn to settle."

"Yes, I'm sure there was outside help. Obviously the same person who got our Mr. Mutou his passport."

He sighed. "It was inevitable, I suppose. We can still proceed, outside help or no."

"You know who it is?"

"Of course, but that's not your concern. Your concern is getting us to the next step. I trust you've already arranged it?"

"Yes, sir. Everything is in place."

"You understand, the timing must be quite precise. You are very clear on every step?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. In the meantime, watch them closely. And see what happens when the tournament host reveals himself. That ought to be very… entertaining."

"Yes, sir."

"What about the others? Were you able to procure a list of contestants and guests?"

"Of course."

"Who from my lists are there?"

There was a pause, and then the voice at the other end read a list of names. "Uh… from the first list, Mutou and Kaiba, of course. Wheeler. Devlin. The Hawkins girl. The other Kaiba. Valentine."

He raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. A bit unexpected."

"Also Gardner, Taylor, and the other Wheeler from your first list are guests."

"Naturally. But none of the Ishtars?"

"No."

"Ryou Bakura?"

"No."

"I expected as much. And yet, Valentine…" he mused. "What about the other list?"

"Pretty much the same names. Mutou, Kaiba, Wheeler, Valentine. The others you listed in parentheses: Hawkins, Devlin, Gardner, Taylor, the other Kaiba."

"Not any of the others?"

"No, just the ones that overlap. Except for the other Wheeler. She's the only one not on both lists."

He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Worrisome. A coincidence, or did he somehow know where we'd be focusing our efforts?" He thought about his two lists and who were excluded from each of them and another pattern emerged. Except for Ishizu Ishtar, everyone excluded from the tournament had deliberately played a Dark Game. Furthermore, if he looked at his first list exclusively, ignoring the second list, it was the one thing those excluded had in common, other than Ishizu, and her absence could easily be explained by the other work she would be doing. Perhaps, then, his second list hadn't been considered at all. It would certainly explain Valentine's inclusion. Mutou, of course, would have been included regardless, but the only thing that could explain Valentine's inclusion given who was missing from the second list was that his adversary had not considered the second list at all. If he had, he would have realized exactly how dangerous Valentine was. This was very good. He could definitely use this to his advantage, perhaps even try a little experiment….

"Oh wait, here's something, sir."

He listened to the names, frowning. "Why on earth…?" This could blow his entire theory out of the water, as these two new names would only have appeared on the second list, had he bothered to include them. Then again, there were other reasons they might have been invited. "I think our friendly host has a very warped sense of humor. At least I hope that's all it is. Regardless, we can use this to our advantage, I believe. Good catch."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now you must watch and wait. I will contact you again when I want you to act."

"Yes sir. Anything else?"

He considered a moment. He really did want to try his little experiment. "Yes, there is one more thing. You do still have the objects I gave you?

"Of course."

"Good. Then I have a side project for you."


	5. The Ball

**5. The Ball**

"C'mon already! If we don't get moving, by the time we get to dinner, all the food will be gone!" Joey complained loudly. He pulled at the uncomfortably tight collar of his tuxedo as he sat waiting in the living room of their suite with Yugi, Duke, and Tristan, none of whom looked any more comfortable than he felt. "Girls!" he griped. "Remind me, why did we bring them along?"

The door to the girls' bedroom opened that moment, and Serenity, Téa, and Rebecca appeared. Serenity was wearing an airy strapless gown in a light shade of green and her hair was piled up on top of her head. Téa's dress was a sleek, low-cut, black gown with a slit up the side, and her hair was held up in back by a sparkling comb. Rebecca was in something pink and flouncy and her hair was curled into long ringlets. The four young men jumped up as the girls entered.

"Wow," Yugi breathed.

"You said, it," Duke added.

"_That _would be why we brought them along," Tristan whispered to Joey.

"You better be talking about Téa," Joey warned through gritted teeth.

"Her too," Tristan nodded.

"Look at you all!" Téa exclaimed. "You clean up nice!"

"All right already, are we gonna stand here yammering or can we get some food?" Joey tapped his foot impatiently.

They all headed out the door into the corridor, Duke and Tristan each falling all over himself to offer Serenity his arm. Joey moved to head them off, but a tug at the collar of his jacket restrained him. He turned to find Téa clutching his collar, an exasperated look on her face.

"Would you give it a rest, already? She's eighteen. She can take care of herself."

Joey scowled, then muttered "Fine." She let go of his jacket and he shrugged his shoulders to smooth it out again. He stalked off behind Tristan, Serenity, and Duke, while Téa took Yugi's arm and followed. Rebecca, uncharacteristically, didn't make a beeline for Yugi, but instead was walking in the front of the crowd. When they reached the elevators, she kept peering down the hallway that led to the starboard side of the ship.

"I think she has a crush on Mokuba," Joey leaned back and whispered to Yugi and Téa.

"Good," they replied in unison.

When they reached the dining room on the Promenade Deck, the maître d' looked up the "Yugi Mutou party" and seated at a large table near the center of the room. Not far from them, the Kaiba brothers were already sitting at a smaller, more private table. Sure enough, Rebecca headed straight for them to say hello. Mokuba rose from his seat as she approached and invited her to join them.

"Looks like maybe the crush is mutual," Téa remarked, and Joey couldn't help but notice how the fact made her almost giddy.

"Thirteen…" he whispered in her ear, then howled in pain when she stamped on his foot.

"Oops, sorry," she said, her tone not the least bit apologetic.

After they were all seated, a waiter brought their menus and explained that they could order whatever they liked, as much as they liked. Joey tested this premise by ordering three separate entrées, which earned him a round of groans from his friends.

As promised, all three entrées arrived and it was the most exquisite food Joey had ever eaten in his entire life. By the time they were finished, he could hardly move, but the Welcome Ball was next, so they headed straight for the Dionysus Ballroom on the same deck. The dance floor was at the far end of the room below a small stage with heavy dark blue curtains drawn across it. A jazz orchestra was arrayed on the floor in front of the stage and was already playing swing music. Tables that seated anywhere from two to six people were grouped around the dance floor. Once again "the Yugi Mutou party" was led to a prime table for six, this time right near the dance floor. The smaller tables forced Rebecca to once again sit with the Kaibas at the next table, an arrangement that pleased everyone except, perhaps, Kaiba. The rest of them found their seats: Duke and Tristan, still competing over Serenity, together pulled a chair out for her, then each took a seat on either side of her. Joey sat on the other side of Tristan from where he could kick his so-called friend under the table occasionally if he got out of line. Téa sat between him and Yugi.

Before long, the band stopped playing and a spotlight shone on the stage curtain. A perky woman with a wide smile appeared from behind the curtain holding a wireless microphone.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome aboard the _USS Chrysaor!_ I'm Amy Burns, your cruise director. We've got an exciting cruise planned for all you Duel Monster duelists and fans, and I want to kick things off by introducing Mr. Geoffrey Goradon, President of the International Duel Monsters Tournament Commission."

Mr. Goradon walked up onto the stage to polite applause from the duelists and their guests. The cruise director stepped aside and gave him the microphone.

"Thank you, Miss Burns," he said to her, then turned to the audience. "On behalf of the Duel Monsters Duel at Sea Tournament organizers, I would like to welcome you all to the World Championship Duel Monsters Duel at Sea!"

This time the applause was a little more enthusiastic.

"You have all been invited to compete here because you are the elite, the best of the best. One hundred and twenty-eight duelists, national and regional champions from around the world, have been hand-chosen by our host to compete in Duel at Sea. All of you are here with one goal: to be named the Duel Monsters World Champion!"

More applause erupted, along with some cheers and whistles. When it died down, Mr. Goradon continued. "When this tournament is over, only one of you will be able to claim the title Duel Monsters World Champion, but as we begin, we are proud to recognize not one but _two _World Champions competing in this tournament: Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutou! I would like to ask both of them to join me on the stage."

The crowd applauded again, Joey loudest of all. He leaned over to look across Téa to Yugi, who had turned deep red. "Get up there!" he shouted at him over the applause. He didn't move, however, and Téa had to practically drag him up out of his seat to get him to go up to the stage. Kaiba, Joey noticed without surprise, had no such inhibitions. He rose immediately and walked with an imperious air up onto the stage, Yugi trailing behind, his cheeks still bright red.

Joey leaned over to Téa. "How can someone so confident in dueling be so embarrassed by any other kind of attention?"

"Because when he duels he's the Pharaoh. Now he's Yugi," she replied.

He cocked his head at her. "You still think he's both?"

"Don't you?" she asked. "You can still see him switch back and forth, but it's more fluid than it was when Atem was still with him. He even adopts Atem's speaking pattern at times, more authoritative and formal than Yugi usually is, haven't you noticed? Like on the pier, he was all Pharaoh when he arrived, answering Kaiba's challenge. But when we all jumped all over him, he was Yugi."

Joey frowned, remembering. "Yeah, I can kinda see what you mean."

**

* * *

**

Yugi stood on the stage, hating every minute of it. It was funny how he could stand before a competitor with a duel disk on his arm in the exact center of attention and not feel so much as a twinge of embarrassment, but outside of the game he was completely out of his element.

The applause died down again and Mr. Goradon was asking him and Kaiba to say a few words. Yugi was grateful that Kaiba relished the limelight and took the microphone.

"Welcome fellow duelists. At Kaiba Corp, we are in partnership with Industrial Illusions to make the game of Duel Monsters the most exciting and extreme experience gaming has to offer. As a fellow competitor, I hope it will be a challenging tournament." As he said the last words, he looked directly at Yugi. "There can only be one World Champion," he said, "and I intend to be that champion."

This announcement drew the ire of the crowd. Yugi, slightly emboldened by the direct challenge, met Kaiba's gaze unflinching, accepting the challenge with a slight bow of his head. Kaiba was, of course, undaunted by the crowd response and continued with only a short pause for dramatic effect. "In ten days, we'll see who the best of the best really is," he said, then handed the microphone back to Mr. Goradon, who in turn handed it to Yugi. Yugi looked at it like it was a poisonous snake, but reluctantly took it.

"Uh… I'm very honored to be here," he began. "I'm looking forward to a fun and exciting tournament." As he finished, he all but shoved the microphone back into Mr. Goradon's hands.

"World Duel Monster Champions Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutou, ladies and gentlemen!" Mr. Goradon announced, and the applause that followed was once again polite rather than exuberant. Yugi and Kaiba returned to their seats, Yugi sinking down into his so that his head was barely above table level.

"Way to go, Yuge," Joey encouraged.

"Yeah, you did great," Téa said.

"Argh, I hate when they have all this pomp and circumstance beforehand," Yugi grumbled. "Why can't we just duel and leave it at that?"

Mr. Goradon began talking into the microphone again. "A little later, your host for this tournament will come out and explain the procedures for the competition, which begins tomorrow morning at nine, but for now, please enjoy yourselves as the fabulous Dan Green Orchestra provides some dance music for us. Thank you, elite duelists!"

More applause, then Mr. Goradon left the stage and the band began playing a lively swing tune. Téa looked at Yugi. "C'mon, let's dance!"

Yugi once again felt like a Duel Monster caught by a trap card. "No way, I've been on the stage enough tonight," he replied, shaking his head.

"Oh, come on, it will be fun," she entreated him.

It was tempting, the thought of having his arms around her as they swayed together on the dance floor. And then he thought of how the floor was in the center of the room. "No thanks. I can't dance and you're too good."

She folded her arms, then looked around the table. "Come on, someone has to be willing to dance. This _is _a party." She looked at each of them in turn.

"I don't think so," Joey said quickly.

"I've got two left feet," Tristan added.

Finally she looked at Duke and he rolled his eyes at the others. "Oh what a bunch of babies you are. I'll dance with you, Téa." He rose to his feet and held out his arm to her, then leaned over and asked with a mischievous glint in his eye and a glance at Yugi, "You don't think I need to ask permission first?"

Téa growled at him and yanked him by the arm onto the floor so hard she almost knocked him off his feet.

Yugi looked at Joey. "What was that all about?"

"Beats me," Joey shrugged.

Duke and Téa stepped onto the dance floor along with a smattering of other couples while Joey, Yugi, Tristan, and Serenity watched. Duke was good, but Téa was brilliant. She moved as if dancing required no effort, every step flowing out of her like water from a fountain. Yugi's mouth went dry as he watched her. She was, quite simply, breathtaking.

"Man, that girl can _dance," _Tristan whistled.

Joey leaned across Téa's empty seat to Yugi. "She dances like you duel."

"Hmm," was all Yugi replied without taking his eyes off of her.

"You can put your eyes back in their sockets, Yuge," Joey snickered behind him.

"Huh?" Yugi started, suddenly remembering he was in a crowd of people. He felt himself go red for like the eighty-seventh time since he boarded this ship.

"Nothing," Joey laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. "If you think she's good here, you should see her in her show. She's like a gymnast or something. There's this one number where a bunch of the dancers do these leaps and flips across the stage. She was just amazing."

"I'll bet. I can't believe I haven't had a chance to go to New York and see her in a show," Yugi grumbled, feeling a little guilty.

When the song ended, they came back to the table and everyone complimented Téa on her skill.

"Boy, I wish I hadn't missed seeing you in New York last week. I definitely have to get out to see you dance in a show," Yugi told her.

"Better make it quick," she said.

"Why?"

"We'll talk later," she told him. He just looked at her curiously.

Duke asked Serenity to dance, to much glowering from both Joey and Tristan. She protested that she wasn't as good as Téa, but he persuaded her and they headed onto the dance floor. They danced for a while, then returned as Mokuba and Rebecca dragged two chairs over to join them. Yugi and Rebecca proceeded to tell the others of their misadventures trying to get out of the Egyptian desert and to San Francisco on time for the cruise.

Joey shook his head in disbelief. "Sounds like you had every travel nightmare short of a plane crash."

"Well, there's still time for a shipwreck," Tristan teased.

"Bite your tongue!" Téa scolded him good-naturedly.

"So tell us about Egypt," Tristan asked. "What was the dig like? It must've been weird to be out of touch for six months."

Yugi glanced at Rebecca, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. He wasn't sure why the last six months in Egypt made him so ill at ease; he loved Egyptology and enjoyed the archaeology. True, the primitive conditions and the lack of contact with the outside world was frustrating, but there was something more… unsettling about their trip, something he couldn't name. It had been bad for Rebecca, too.

In response to Tristan's question, he merely shrugged. "It was kind of dull," he said vaguely, then asked Tristan about army life.

Mokuba and Rebecca left to go dance and the rest of them chatted some more while Téa tried unsuccessfully to get someone to dance with her. Yugi was torn once more; the thought of a slow dance with Téa was both incredibly appealing and absolutely terrifying. The terrified part won out and he declined again. While Téa fumed, a couple of duelists he knew stopped by to say hello. Mako Tsunami visited a while, posturing a bit about how a duel on the sea put him at an advantage. Then he cocked his head and gave Yugi a puzzled look.

"My friend, you don't have your good luck charm."

"What?" Yugi asked, then followed Mako's gaze to his chest. "Oh, the Millennium Puzzle. No, I don't have that anymore. It… well, I guess it got lost a couple years ago."

Mako raised his eyebrows. "So is this why you have not dueled for two years, because you lost your good luck charm?"

"What? No!" Yugi protested, feeling defensive. "I don't need a 'good luck charm.' I was studying in Egypt and didn't have time for tournaments."

Mako laughed and clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to knock Yugi forward in his chair. "No need to be defensive, my friend. I'm sure you will still be a formidable opponent, even without your talisman."

"Man, who _talks _like that?" Tristan said, shaking his head as Mako departed. "Well, except the Pharaoh," Tristan teased Yugi.

Yugi fumed a bit, less at Tristan's taunting than Mako's comments about the Puzzle. Is that what people thought? That the Millennium Puzzle was a good luck charm he depended on to win duels?

Several other duelists came by after Mako left, and a few of them also commented on the missing Puzzle.

"Geez, I didn't know my Puzzle was such a big deal to everyone," Yugi grumbled.

"You've had it since any of these people ever heard of you," Joey told him. "It is kinda weird to see you without it."

"You know, it never really occurred to me until now, but this will be your first tournament without it," Téa said, leaving unspoken what really would be missing.

The thought hadn't really occurred to Yugi before, either, but she was right. He'd never even entered a tournament before he'd had the Puzzle, let alone won one, and it had always been Atem who had taken the lead in dueling. He had, of course, dueled since the Pharaoh's departure and the loss of the Millennium Items; he and Rebecca had passed many a long journey through the desert or an evening at camp by playing Duel Monsters. They'd taught many of the others with them on the expedition to play as well, and Professor Hawkins was also quite good, as were a couple of the other archaeologists that accompanied them. Even without Atem, Yugi was better than all of them, but dueling for fun and to pass the time, even with players as skilled as Rebecca, was a far cry from tournament dueling. For the first time he wondered how well he could compete without Atem.

_Except I'm not really without him, am I? _he thought.

Even after two years, he still wasn't sure what he believed about why he still had the Atem's memories even after both the Puzzle and its Spirit were gone, but Téa's theory that he and the Pharaoh were one may not have been far off the mark. Sometimes he would find himself slipping into behaviors that later he would recognize as being more in line with the Pharaoh's personality than his own, particularly in situations that called for his specific strengths. It wasn't like before, when there was an actual switch that took place and he could feel Atem take over while he was relegated to the role of observer, although now he could remember himself in both roles. Now it felt more seamless, like he could flow in and out of the two personalities while all the while still remaining _himself._ In his memories of their time together, he felt like he had been two people at once. Now he felt almost like they were two halves of one whole. And yet, there was a part of his heart that told him it was all just an act, that he was trying to be something he never could, like a child wearing his father's overly large shoes, trying to fit into a role that was just to big for him to ever fill. Did Téa see him that way, too?

"Yugi?" Téa asked, noticing his silence.

He looked at her. "I thought you thought part of me still _is _the Pharaoh," he said quietly.

She regarded him for a moment. "It's not what I think that matters."

He nodded. "I think—"

"Well, I guess all the rumors are true. Yugi Mutou returns to dueling. The world must need saving," a tart yet amused voice intruded.

They all started at the interruption and Yugi saw Joey freeze, his eyes going wide in shock at the familiar voice. He whipped around in his chair as Yugi and everyone else looked up to see the tall blonde standing across the table from Yugi, behind Joey and Tristan.

"Mai!" Joey breathed.

**

* * *

**

Joey sat for a moment, completely immobilized by shock. _Mai Valentine._

She looked stunning in a strapless velvet gown of deep purple with long white gloves that came up past her elbows, her hair pulled up into an elaborate curl on top of her head, showing off the curve of her neck. She was looking at Yugi, a typical Mai smirk on her lips, but something in her eyes belied the cockiness of her stance. There was an almost fearful quality there as she brought her gaze from Yugi to Joey when he said her name.

"Hello, Joey," she said softly.

"Mai!" Serenity cried out in delight, jumping up from her seat. That finally broke Joey's paralysis and he was on his feet, too, along with Tristan. Mai tore her gaze from Joey and looked at Serenity, a little of the anxiety in her eyes dying as they lit up with genuine pleasure.

"Hey kiddo," she greeted in return.

Serenity moved forward to hug her friend, but Tristan held his arm out, blocking her. "No, Serenity," he said stiffly, "she's not our friend."

Joey saw Mai's expression falter slightly. Without taking his eyes off her, he growled "Shut up, Tristan."

Serenity, appalled, cried out, "Tristan! What's the matter with you?" Joey could almost feel the tension as everyone else at the table sucked in a collective breath, waiting.

Mai steeled herself, her poise returning so quickly Joey almost thought he'd imagined the moment of uncertainty. She looked at Serenity, her gaze resolute. "No, Serenity, Tristan is right. I haven't been a very good friend. To all of you," she finished, bringing her eyes back to Joey.

"Ancient history," Joey said, swallowing.

"What's ancient history?" Serenity asked. "Joey, what's going on? Mai is our friend!"

"Friends don't play evil, soul-sucking cards on each other," Tristan accused.

It was all Joey could do to keep his clenched fists at his side and not slug Tristan as he rounded on him. "Tristan, _shut UP!" _he hissed.

"It's true," Tristan shot back, his arm still out to prevent Serenity from moving towards Mai.

"Tristan, enough," came an imposing voice from behind them. They all turned to see Yugi, also on his feet, his expression commanding as his gaze moved from Tristan to Joey to Mai. _Damned if Téa wasn't right, _Joey thought. _There's the Pharaoh._

"Mai wasn't the only person who was irresponsible with the Seal of Orichalcos," Yugi continued, and Joey was amazed at how in everything from the intensity in his eyes to the tone in his voice he _was _the Pharaoh. Joey glanced at Tristan, whose face melted in remorse as he realized the unintended impact of his words. _Friends don't play evil, soul-sucking cards on each other…_

"Yugi, I didn't—" Tristan began, shamefaced, but he was cut off suddenly when Mai sucked her breath in sharply.

"You're not wearing your puzzle!" she cried with such distress in her voice that Joey's attention was wrenched back to her.

"Mai?" he asked, quizzical.

He could hear a touch of bewilderment in Yugi's voice at the disproportionate emotion she seemed to have over its absence as he replied, "No, the Millennium Puzzle is gone for good."

For some reason, this news hit Mai hard. Her face drained of color and it was a moment before she regained her composure, and then only with some effort. She dragged her eyes back to Joey. "Joey, I am truly sorry for everything I did. It was unforgivable, I know that. I… I just wanted to tell you face-to-face, I'm sorry." Without another word she turned and all but fled from the table.

"Mai!" Joey called out and started to go after her, but Tristan grabbed his arm.

"Dude, let her go."

"_Leave me alone!" _Joey shouted, shrugging hard to get Tristan's arm off him. He started after Mai again, but he couldn't see where she'd gone.

At that moment, the band stopped playing and the room got quiet as Mr. Goradon appeared on the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats! The time has come for us to explain the rules and format of the Duel at Sea World Championship Tournament."

Joey ignored Goradon and continued to scan the crowd for Mai, but Téa was suddenly beside him, her hand on his shoulder. "Joey, you can find her later. You have to focus on the tournament now. Come back and sit down."

Joey growled in frustration, but reluctantly allowed Téa to guide him back to his seat. There was some whispering and shuffling as duelists returned to their seats from the dance floor or the bar. Mr. Goradon waited for everyone to get settled.

"Joey," Tristan said as they all slowly sat down, but Joey's glare silenced him.

"Joey, what was that all about?" Serenity asked anxiously.

Joey shook his head, but Téa whispered "I'll tell you later."

Tristan turned to Serenity to say something, but she gave him an even angrier look than Joey's. "Don't you talk to me, Tristan Taylor! I don't know what this is all about, but there is no excuse for you being so obnoxious to her," she seethed.

"Elite duelists," Mr. Goradon began again as most of the competitors and their guests found their seats and quieted, "The International Duel Monsters Tournament Commission is very pleased to introduce to you the host of our Duel Monsters Duel at Sea Tournament. He is Chairman of the Board of the IDMTC, the CEO of Industrial Illusions, and of course, the creator of the Duel Monsters card game. I give you Mr. Maximillion Pegasus!"


	6. Past and Future

**6. Past and Future  
**

A sort of collective gasp of surprise went up around the room, then evolved into applause as Maximillion Pegasus walked out onto the stage. Yugi sat bolt upright in his seat and shot a glance at the next table over, where Kaiba had gotten to his feet, his face set in anger. "That snake, I thought he retired from tournaments!" Yugi heard Kaiba fume, but Mokuba quietly urged him back into his seat.

Pegasus strode out onto the stage, a wide smile on his face. He was a striking figure, well over six-feet tall with long silver hair that made him look older than his thirty-one years. It draped dramatically over the left side of his face, hiding his missing left eye from view. His gold-colored right eye twinkled as if in perpetual amusement, but Yugi knew from past experience it could switch to a menacing glare in an instant. As was often the case, he wore a brightly colored suit with a ruffled shirt that would have been more in fashion in the 70s than today. Pegasus loved to play the fop, an affectation he used in much the same way Rebecca used her little child act, to throw people off guard and make them underestimate his shrewd intellect. For all his eccentric mannerisms and childlike glee, Yugi knew Maximillion Pegasus was one of the most cunning and manipulative men alive. The Willy Wonka of the gaming world.

Yugi exchanged fleeting looks with his companions at his own table. Téa's eyebrows were raised while both Tristan's and Joey's brows were furrowed suspiciously. Duke's expression was more happily surprised as he had only had positive dealings with Pegasus. Serenity alone had no reaction beyond polite applause as she had never met the creator of Duel Monsters.

"Greetings Duel Monster champions," Pegasus oozed in his characteristic singsong voice. "and welcome to Industrial Illusions' Duel at Sea. You have all been hand chosen by yours truly to compete in this World Championship. Only the best of the best, the most gifted duelists are here. It's _destined _to be a tournament to remember."

Yugi's eyes narrowed as Pegasus emphasized the word _destined _while looking first right at him, then at Kaiba. What on earth was he up to?

As if he could read Yugi's mind—an unsettling thought because when Yugi had first met him and he'd possessed the Millennium Eye he _could _read minds—Pegasus smiled and said, "I'm sure you're all wondering why I am personally hosting a tournament again after, oh what has it been now, nearly five years since I retired from tournament dueling? Well, as they say, you can take the man out of the game, but you can't take the game out of the man." Again Yugi was unsettled when Pegasus looked directly at him again. "What can I say? I miss all the fun and excitement!

"Now let's get to the part you're all waiting for: the tournament format and rules. We'll be playing Single Elimination format with seven rounds of play. Lose a duel, and you're out of the tournament while the winner advances to the next round. Duel at Sea will be a little more regimented than Duelist Kingdom or Battle City. I'm sure you all noticed that you have different color badges. The eight different badge colors correspond with the eight different divisions: Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet. Each division has sixteen duelists who have been seeded according to ability and assigned opponents accordingly. Tomorrow morning at breakfast you will receive the schedule showing each of you when and against whom you will be dueling.

"For the first two days of competition, each division will have separate dueling areas somewhere on the ship. Dueling locations for each division will also be available tomorrow morning at breakfast. The first day will be Round One, eight duels per division with all divisions dueling simultaneously. The second day will be Round Two in the morning and Division Semifinals in the afternoon. Just to make things interesting, during the first two days, duelists are only permitted to watch duels in their assigned division. Guests, however, may attend any duel they wish.

"On Tuesday we'll dock in Ketchikan, Alaska and you will all have the day off to take shore excursions. Wednesday will be the Division Finals. At this point, all duels will take place in the main dueling area on the Sun Deck and the lucky—or should I say skilled—finalists will finally get a chance to scope out their competition in other divisions.

"Thursday and Friday will also be days off for shore excursions and taking in the beautiful scenery of the Alaskan Glaciers… not to mention time for the Division Winners to prepare for the Finals.

"Next Saturday will be Round One of the Finals. Another day off next Sunday, and then a week from Monday will be the Semi-Finals in the morning and the World Championship Duel in the afternoon.

"By the time we dock back in San Francisco ten days from now, we will have a newly crowned Duel Monsters World Champion!"

Pegasus paused here and the crowd cheered. When the noise died down, he peered at the crowd, a gleeful look in his eye. "Oh but wait, there's more. Much more." Again, a pointed glance toward Yugi's and Kaiba's tables. "As CEO of Industrial Illusions and the creator of Duel Monsters, I like to think that Duel Monsters duelists aren't just competitors, we're _family._ Oh sure, we have our rivalries and our bickering and backstabbing and the whole wanting to brutally destroy our opposition thing going, but then, what family doesn't?"

Yugi glanced at Joey who raised his eyebrows dubiously.

"In that _family _spirit, I want to create a little Duel Monsters family of my own, if you will; a select group of the best duelists in the world. At the end of the first round of finals, there will be four duelists left. These four duelists, the cream of the crop, will all be invited to be the first ever Industrial Illusions Professional Dueling Team, and will travel around the world representing Industrial Illusions and promoting Duel Monsters. If you are one of Chosen Four—"

Once more, Pegasus's gaze fell on Yugi's and Kaiba's tables.

"—you will be invited to live in a luxury penthouse apartment in San Francisco, rent-free. You will have access to all of the newest and rarest cards and the most advanced in dueling technology that Industrial Illusions, in cooperation with Kaiba Corp and Schroeder Industries, has to offer."

Yugi looked over at Kaiba at the mention of Kaiba Corp. Whatever cooperative venture Pegasus had planned was clearly news to Kaiba.

"As Industrial Illusions duelists, you will tour various gaming conventions and tournaments to promote Duel Monsters. All tournament entry fees and travel to tournaments for Industrial Illusion Duelists will be paid for by Industrial Illusions," Pegasus continued, "while prizes awarded will go to the individual competitors. We are also offering very attractive benefits, including a generous medical and dental plan, access to company cars and limousines, and many more goodies. All the glorious details will also be in the information packets you'll receive at breakfast tomorrow." He smiled, and Yugi was once again reminded of Willy Wonka. They had their Golden Tickets and now they were being tested to see who was worthy to work for the Chocolate Factory. But why?

"But enough about that. This is a party! Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we DUEL!"

This prompted thunderous applause from the crowd, bringing most of them to their feet. Yugi and his table, with the exception of Duke, stayed seated, as did Kaiba, Mokuba, and Rebecca at the next table. On stage, Pegasus made a theatrical bow and disappeared behind the curtains.

* * *

Mai watched from the back of the ballroom as Pegasus disappeared behind the curtain. _What are you up to, Pegasus?_

It was odd enough that that fruitcake would suddenly come out of retirement, but that he would invite _her _to this tournament where the top four competitors—one of which she was sure she would be—were to be offered positions as professional duelists for Industrial Illusions? It smacked of some sort of scheme. Why would he want her working for him after what she did to him the last time they met…?

But that only brought her back full circle. To Joey.

_I need to get out of here, _she thought, and turned quickly, only to walk right into someone.

"Hey Miss Valentine, where are you going? The party's not over yet."

She stepped back to find herself face to face with Evan Haines, the purser. _I am so not in the mood for this, _she thought, but screwing on her best smile, said brightly, "Oh, hi, Evan."

"You promised to let me buy you a drink."

"Oh, that's just so sweet, but I really can't right now—"

He frowned, obviously seeing through the Happy Act. "What's wrong?"

_Oh yeah, I'm so going to pour my heart out to Gopher. _"Oh, it's just…" she looked over her shoulder back at the stage. "It's Pegasus. I didn't know he was the tournament host," she told him, facing him once more. "We sort of have… past history." She let him draw his own conclusions.

He nodded. "Listen, let me get you that drink somewhere else. There's a private lounge for the crew. If we went there, you'd be sure not to run into him."

Wrong _him,_ but that would workShe smiled with genuine relief. "Evan, that's a fabulous idea. Thank you."

She followed him out of the ballroom and through a door marked CREW ONLY and down a hallway to a narrow flight of stairs. He made small talk as they walked down two levels to the Lido Deck, but as it required little more from her than an occasional nod and smile, she couldn't keep her mind on the conversation. Instead, she kept drifting back to the ballroom and to her encounter with Joey.

She'd really thought it had been going well, too, Tristan Taylor's severity notwithstanding. She'd actually been expecting much worse. But what she hadn't expected was for Yugi Mutou of all people to be so harsh.

_Mai wasn't the only person who was irresponsible with the Seal of Orichalcos_

The words kept ringing in her ears, along with the uncharacteristic bitterness in his voice. No, she hadn't been the only person who had been irresponsible with the Seal of Orichalcos. She'd taken out Pegasus and Joey, but they hadn't been the only casualties. Rex and Weevil, though those two idiots had only themselves to blame. Alistair. Valon… though he was partially her fault, too. But before any of them had been victims of the Orichalcos, Yugi had been. And the person responsible for that was his own alter ego, the Pharaoh.

Whose Puzzle Yugi no longer wore around his neck.

_No, the Millennium Puzzle is gone for good._ Just like that. So matter-of-fact. Someone they'd considered their friend, certainly a better friend than she'd ever been to any of them, but one screw-up and he was gone, just like that. Nothing he did after that—and Mai knew enough to know he'd been at least partially responsible for defeating Dartz and setting all of them free—could make up for the fact that in playing the Seal of Orichalcos and losing the soul of a friend he'd done the unthinkable. The unforgivable.

That realization had hit her harder than she'd thought possible. She'd told herself that she wasn't expecting forgiveness, that her job was to apologize to Joey without expectation, without asking anything of him. But in that moment of knowing that there was no possible way he could ever forgive her, that they could ever be friends again, she'd felt absolutely crushed.

_Who am I kidding? _she thought bitterly. She could tell herself all the pretty stories she wished about her noble motives for coming here to apologize to him in person, but the truth was, she came here for one reason: she wanted to be with him. More than she cared to admit. At what point had she allowed a punk kid from Japan to be so integral to her life? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Uh, hello… Mai?"

"Huh?" she asked, shaking her head and looking at Evan.

"That is your name, right? I was thinking since you've agreed to join the crew for the evening I could dispense with the passenger courtesies and call you 'Mai' instead of 'Miss Valentine'?"

She grinned wanly. "Oh, yes, of course. Sorry. I'm afraid I'm not going to be very good company tonight."

"That's okay." He frowned again. "That guy really did a number on you, huh?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Actually, I'm the one who did a number on him and I guess he's not exactly the forgiving type. I'm not really thrilled about being stuck on a cruise ship with him for ten days."

Of course, he thought she meant Pegasus. And ironically, that answer worked for him just as well, but with much less emotion attached.

What a _fabulous_ cruise this was going to be.

**

* * *

**

As soon as Pegasus left the stage, Yugi saw Kaiba jump to his feet and move swiftly toward the stage, his face set in determination. Mokuba was two steps behind him, leaving a confused Rebecca alone at their table.

The applause started to die down and the band started up again. Some of their fellow duelists got up to dance, while others left the ballroom immediately, as if Pegasus's mere presence made the tournament that much more daunting. Joey turned to Yugi. "Maybe Kaiba has the right idea. I don't trust that guy as far as I could throw him. Think we should go talk to him?"

Yugi considered this then shook his head. "Pegasus isn't going to tell us anything about what he's up to until he's good and ready."

Duke made a face. "C'mon, what's it gonna take for you guys to trust the guy? He helped me get started with Dungeon Dice Monsters, he helped you guys during that whole Orichalcos thing."

Rebecca joined them, pulling up a chair and squeezing between Yugi and Duke. "So what was that all about? Why did Seto and Mokuba run off?"

Joey stared at her. _"Seto?_ Since when are you on a first-name basis with Kaiba?"

She shrugged. "It's what Mokuba calls him."

"Back to the topic of Pegasus…" Téa prompted.

"Yeah, what's the deal with that guy?" Serenity asked. "He seems kind of strange."

"Don't let him fool you. He's a wacko, but he's a cunning, devious wacko," Tristan answered.

To this, Serenity merely gave him a cold look and moved her chair away from him and towards Duke.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me, you're not still mad!" Tristan complained.

She gave him a look that would have made it seem chilly in Death Valley in July. "I told you already, I have nothing to say to you after the way you treated Mai."

Yugi glanced at Joey, anxious for his friend now that the subject had been brought back to Mai. Joey was busy studying the water mark his soda glass had left on the table.

Tristan, defensive, did not notice Joey's discomfort and launched into a tirade. "You have _no idea_ what she did, Serenity. There's a reason I don't trust her."

Joey now looked up and glared at Tristan. "Leave it alone," he warned, the threat in his voice unmistakable.

"I will _not _leave it alone," Tristan shot back. "You lost your _soul _because of her—yeah, you heard me," he added to Serenity when she gasped at this. "She joined those Orichalcos creeps and _your brother _lost his soul because of her. So yeah, I don't trust her."

"Joey?" Serenity asked. "That's not true, is it?" She looked around the table for someone to deny it, but everyone had suddenly become very interested in their own soda glasses and water marks on the table. Yugi alone did not avert his eyes from the three of them, but neither did he say anything.

"Joey?" Serenity prompted again.

Joey glared daggers at Tristan before looking at his sister. "Yeah, it's true," he said at last, but then hastily added, "but it's ancient history. She screwed up and she regretted it."

"Oh yeah, she regretted it so much she _ran off _the second everyone got their souls back," Tristan argued.

"What, none of _us_ ever screwed up? You and I weren't exactly nice guys when we were younger. Where would we be if Yugi hadn't forgiven us for bullying him? We'd still be stupid punks picking on people smaller than us, that's where," Joey retorted. "Look, you weren't even there, okay? You didn't see how it ended. She tried to stop the duel but it was too late."

"And she lost her own soul trying to get to Dartz," Yugi added, joining the conversation at last. Joey shot him a grateful look. "And don't forget that I played that card, too."

Téa looked up at this remark, but Tristan shook his head. "That wasn't you."

"Okay, not really," Yugi conceded, "but I _remember _doing it. I _remember_ making the decision and I remember what happened to…" here he faltered because he remembered being the victim of the Orichalcos just as much as he remembered being the perpetrator. He tried again, from his own point of view instead of the Pharaoh's. "It doesn't matter anyway. You forgave Atem. Before he forgave himself, in fact. Why should Mai be any different?"

"Because Atem was our friend and he tried to make things right," Tristan replied.

"Mai is _my _friend," Joey countered, "and she tried to make things right, too. Tristan, I know you're looking out for me and I appreciate that. But this is between me and her so please just _let it go."_ He crumpled a cocktail napkin and pushed back his chair from the table. "I'm gonna go find her."

"Joey…" Serenity started, but seemed unable to say anything more.

"I'm sorry I never told you about everything that happened in California, Serenity. I'm sure Téa or someone will tell you the whole story, but I really just want to talk to her right now, okay?"

She nodded, but Tristan said "What about Pegasus? Don't you think that's a little more important right now?"

Joey shook his head. "I don't give a damn about Pegasus right now. Whatever he's up to, we'll figure it out." He rose and left the table, scanning the crowded ballroom as he went.

The rest of them sat in awkward silence a moment. Tristan looked hopefully at Serenity, but it was clear even knowing what Mai had done to earn his resentment, she wasn't ready to talk to him yet.

"Fine," he said sullenly, pushing back his own chair, "I can take a hint."

"Tristan—" Téa started, but at that moment, Kaiba reappeared from behind the curtain, his face stormy and Mokuba still on his heels.

"Kaiba!" Yugi called, waving him over. To his surprise, Kaiba not only complied, he sat down next to Téa in the chair Joey had just vacated. Mokuba perched himself on the arm of Rebecca's chair and Tristan returned to his own seat.

"Did you get to talk to Pegasus?" Yugi asked Kaiba.

Kaiba snorted. "For all the good it did. Apparently he's under the impression that the licenses Kaiba Corp holds to use Duel Monsters images in our Duel Disks and other enterprises give him the power to decide how and when we will become involved in joint ventures."

"The licenses are revocable, Seto," Mokuba pointed out. Kaiba merely glowered in reply.

"But what's he up to?" Tristan asked. "Why did he come out of retirement to host a tournament?"

Kaiba shrugged. "Who knows what's in that slimy little mind of his. He's definitely up to something."

"The question is, good or bad?" Yugi stated.

"So what," Duke interjected looking at Yugi, "your little speeches about forgiveness don't apply to Pegasus? I'm telling you, he's a decent guy."

"He's a snake," Kaiba retorted.

Serenity suddenly pounded the table in frustration. "Okay, I am _so _sick of being the only one who doesn't know what's going on! Would someone _please _tell me what the deal is with this Pegasus guy? _Not _you," she shot at Tristan when he started to open his mouth.

Yugi gave her a quick summary of their dealings with Pegasus, from their first "meeting" in a Shadow Game conducted via videotape that ended in Pegasus locking Yugi's grandfather's soul in the Shadow Realm, to the Duelist Kingdom tournament and the similar capturing of Mokuba's and then Kaiba's souls, and finally their much different encounter with him during the Orichalcos crisis where he was instrumental in their defeat of Dartz and his Great Leviathan. "He's difficult to read," Yugi finished. "I think what he did in Duelist Kingdom was influenced by something evil in the Millennium Eye—" Kaiba snorted at this "—but I don't entirely trust him, either."

"Why not? You just talked about forgiveness—" Duke reminded him again.

"Forgiveness and trust are two different things," Yugi interrupted. "I don't hold a grudge for what he did to Grandpa, but that doesn't mean I _trust _him. He always has his own agenda, even when he's helping us."

"Oh, he has an agenda all right," Kaiba insisted. "We just need to figure out what it is."

"We?" Téa asked in surprise. "Since when do you consider _us—" _she made a circular motion to indicate the others around the table with her "—part of _we?"_

Kaiba gave her a withering look. "I'm not stupid, Téa. It's no accident that the first tournament since Battle City where both Yugi and I are competing happens to be the one he's hosting. He wanted us both here and I want to know why."

"Me too," Yugi agreed. "He didn't give you any idea why he invited us when you were talking to him?"

"The only thing he would talk about was what he expected from Kaiba Corp in regards to this 'top four professional duelist' nonsense he's arranged as some sort of prize. Like I'd ever duel for anyone but myself," Kaiba sniffed.

"What makes you so sure you'll even be _in _the top four?" Tristan asked, and Yugi couldn't help but smile because he knew it was exactly what Joey would've said if he'd been there and Tristan was saying it on his behalf.

"Please," Kaiba replied contemptuously.

"It is a strange prize," Yugi agreed, sidestepping the discussion of who would and would not make the top four. "Why would Pegasus want four duelists working for him?"

"Control," Kaiba replied.

"But of what?" Mokuba joined in. "And don't say Kaiba Corp," he added when Kaiba was about to respond. "He already has a good chunk of control because of the Duel Monsters licensing and you know it, Seto. Most of what we do, from Duel Disks to Kaiba Land, depends on use of Duel Monsters and their likenesses."

"He can't change the terms of the licenses we hold," Kaiba snapped, pounding the table for emphasis. "Kaiba Land and Duel Disk holographs are a done deal."

"But he can choose to not license future cards, and if we can't make holograms of new monsters, spells, and traps, then Duel Disks will be completely obsolete and Kaiba Land will stagnate."

Apparently Mokuba had a point because Kaiba merely narrowed his eyes at his younger brother but didn't reply.

"There's something more going on here than business," Yugi said. "He's got something in mind for the top four finalists that involves more than just publicity for Industrial Illusions."

"You guys are some of the most paranoid dudes I've ever met," Duke scoffed, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded. "I'm telling you, Pegasus is on the level. I've been working with him for five years now and have never run across anything shady."

Kaiba laughed mirthlessly. "That's really sweet. Meanwhile, back in the real world, we need to figure out what he's plotting. Because there's _always _a plot. Several, probably. Plots within plots."

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you," Duke shot back.

"Hey, my brother is an honest businessman!" Mokuba shouted over Rebecca's head.

"Enough!" Yugi demanded, instinctively switching to Pharaoh mode. "There is no point in name-calling amongst ourselves and there is no point in arguing back and forth about whether Pegasus is or is not trustworthy. Whatever reason he had for hosting this tournament and inviting us to be a part of it he will make clear in his own time. In the meantime, we need to be cautious."

"Well I'm not going to sit back and wait for Pegasus to deign to fill me in. I'm going to do a little research on my own." He rose and nodded at his brother. "Come on, Mokuba, let's see what kind of dirt we can dig up. We can start with that labor dispute we just had. Suddenly I'm seeing Pegasus's sticky little fingerprints all over it."

"Ooh, sounds like some hacking is in order," Rebecca said, rubbing her hands together. "Can I help?"

"I don't need the help of little girls," Kaiba scoffed.

Rebecca crossed her arms and gave him a hard stare. "Need I remind you of who got past your pathetic security three years ago?"

Mokuba laughed. "She's right, Seto. She's really good. She should help."

Kaiba glowered at them both, but nodded. "Fine." Without bothering to say good-bye to anyone at the table, he turned on his heel and stalked away.

"We'll see you later," Mokuba said, and he and Rebecca followed him out.

"Nice manners, Rich Boy," Tristan grumbled after they'd gone. "At least his kid brother is a decent guy."

"Oh, forget Kaiba," Téa said, "and forget Pegasus, too. It's still our first night on the ship. I'd like to have some fun."

"Me too," Serenity agreed, jumping up from her seat. She grabbed Duke's arm, her back rather pointedly toward Tristan. "Come on, Duke, let's dance."

"You got it, Ren," he said, then leaned over to Tristan as he got up. "That'll teach you to open your big mouth," he winked.

"Listen, you—" Tristan started, but Serenity had already dragged Duke away from the table."

"Oh, don't worry about her," Téa told him. "She'll torture you for a few hours and then she'll be fine."

"Yeah, great," Tristan grumbled, rising himself. "I'm not much in the party mood anyway. I think I'll go check out the rest of the ship."

"Tristan!" Téa called out after him as he left, but Yugi put his hand on her shoulder.

"Just leave him alone. It'll all work itself out once Joey gets a chance to talk to Mai."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She turned back toward him and Yugi was instantly became very aware that they were the only two left at the table.

"So…" he started, his tongue feeling rather large and awkward all of a sudden.

"So," she said, looking as uneasy as he felt.

_This is stupid, she's my oldest friend, _he chided himself. The room was noisy and felt very warm. "Wanna take a walk?" he asked. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

She smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

They left the ballroom and found a quiet deck outside. Although May, it was chilly out on the sea and it would only get colder as they sailed north towards Alaska. He noticed Téa shivering in her sleeveless dress and took off his tuxedo jacket and put it over her shoulders.

"Thanks," she said.

"Would you rather go someplace inside where it's warm?" he asked.

"No, that's okay. I like it out here. I love the sound of the ocean at night."

He nodded and they walked together, shoulder to shoulder. She stopped at the rail and looked out over the ocean.

"It's been way too long," he said as he joined her at the rail, resting both hands on it. He was cold in just his shirtsleeves, but it didn't seem to matter when he stood close to her. "I really missed talking with you the last few months."

"Me too," she said, looking at him. "I really missed you."

"Yeah, I missed you a lot. I mean, I missed everyone," he added hastily when he felt himself go red yet again.

"Yeah, I missed everyone too," she replied, her expression unreadable. Then she took a deep breath of salty air. "So I couldn't help but notice what you said to Tristan about the whole Orichalcos thing. That _you _played the card," she added for clarification.

"Yeah," he replied, not sure what else to say.

"Is that how you see yourself? As… both of you?"

He exhaled slowly. "I'm not really sure. I don't think I understand it any better than I did two years ago, but I'm used to it now. Does that make any sense?" When she nodded, he continued. "I studied a lot about the _Ba _and the _Ka _when I was in Egypt, but like any kind of spiritual beliefs, there are a lot of differing views. It could be that we come from the same _Ba_ like you said, but then I wonder what that means for Bakura, and even Marik."

Téa frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Bakura is just like me, isn't he? He has a past self, so they must come from the same _Ba _too. Some describe the _Ba_ as the personality, so do we share the same personality with our spirits? Only… the Thief Bakura was evil and our Bakura isn't. How can they be so different if Atem and I are the same?"

"We all make choices, Yugi. You and Atem didn't always make the same choices, but that doesn't mean you don't come from the same place and that you can't do the things he did."

"And Marik?"

"That was totally different," Téa asserted. "His _Yami _sidewasn't a past life, it came from the abuse he suffered from his father. That's a choice, too, you know, how we deal with what happens to us."

"So have we been kidding ourselves saying Marik's _Yami _is somehow different from his good side? Does the evil really come from him?"

She looked thoughtful. "I think we all have the potential to be good or evil, don't you? Maybe the whole _Ba/Ka _thing is just a way to separate what's innate in us from the choices we make. You have all the same basic ingredients as Atem, Yugi. All the things you admire about him and think aren't you, they _are _when you choose them to be. Isn't that what he learned fighting you in that canyon in the desert, after he'd played that Seal of Orichalcos card and you lost your soul? He thought he was the Dark Yugi and you were the Light, but in that battle it was reversed because the dark and light are just choices we make and you taught him how to choose the light just like he taught you how to be assertive. But the capacity for all of that was in you both all along."

He considered her words. "I don't know. I'm adjusting to the way things are, but it's still hard to wrap my mind around. Sometimes it feels like I'm just a kid playing make-believe or I'm an actor in a play or something. 'Tonight the part of the Pharaoh will be played by Yugi Mutou… for lack of a better player.'"

"Yugi!" Téa chided him.

"Well, it feels like that, like I'm trying to measure up to something I'm not quite capable of. Don't get me wrong, I like that I get to keep a piece of him with me in our shared memories, but this way it's hard knowing sometimes where I end and he begins."

"Does there have to be a line? Don't you think it's _all _you? I certainly don't think you're just play-acting, Yugi. It comes from _inside _you."

"I don't know," he shrugged. "With him, I'm so different now than I used to be."

"Yes," she agreed, "you are different now than you were before all of this happened, but we're all different because of the experiences we've had and we're different just from growing up. I don't think that means you weren't already a whole person before he ever came. It just means you've grown and changed, same as the rest of us. I… I can see both sides of you at different times now, but you're still _you._"

"Is that a good thing?" he asked before he'd even realized the words had come out of his mouth.

"It is to me," she said, slipping her hand over his on the rail and looking into his eyes with a sigh. "I wish you could see yourself the way I see you, Yugi. You think you need to measure up to him, but all I see is someone who has always been a hero."

He felt a sort of dizzying spark flow like an electric current over him at that. He wanted to tell her what she meant to him, how being with her made him feel, but the very thought was terrifying. Her life was so different now than it was two years ago when she'd told him she liked him and even as well as he knew her, he'd never been good at reading how she felt about him. She'd always been his cheerleader and what she was saying now could easily be nothing more than that, support for a friend, though he wanted so much to believe it meant something more. He wanted to know, to find out if there was any chance that there could be something more than friendship between them, but he didn't know where to begin. Casting about for anything to say that would help him get some indication of where she was, his mind locked onto his new plans for grad school. Her reaction to the possibility of him moving to New York could give him a starting place to gauge how she might feel about him and their relationship.

"I… I'm really sorry I missed getting to see you in New York," he began, trying hard not to be overly conscious of the fact that her hand was still on his.

"Oh, that's okay, I'm just _so _glad you're finally here. I can't tell you how worried I was you weren't going to make it."

"Yeah, I know. I really tried to get word to you guys. The whole trip out here was just such a nightmare."

"I know, it's okay," she smiled.

"I _really _want to see you dance. You're still doing that show on Broadway, right?"

"Off Broadway."

"Whatever. Joey says you're amazing in it."

"Oh, I don't know about that," she said modestly, but something in her eyes changed, like she was wrestling with an uncomfortable decision. "Actually, I was going to talk to you about that. I—"

She was interrupted when a door down at the end of the deck slammed open. Her hand flew off his as someone stomped through and kicked it shut with a growl that sounded very familiar.

"Joey?" Yugi asked.

He didn't hear them, but it was definitely Joey. He turned around and smashed his fist into the bulkhead behind him. When flesh and bone met steel, he let out a howl of pain, and shook his hand, muttering to himself.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well with Mai," Téa whispered.

Yugi looked between the two of them, torn. Joey clearly needed someone to talk to, but he didn't want to leave Téa. They still had so much to talk about.

Téa solved his dilemma for him. "Go talk to him," she nodded. "We can talk later."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "He looks like he needs his best friend right now." She took his hand again and gave it a brief squeeze. She started to walk away, then stopped. "Oh, here's your jacket," she said, starting to take it off her shoulders.

He held up his hand. "No, keep it. I can get it from you later."

"Thanks," she said, putting the jacket back over her shoulders. She walked away, leaving Yugi and Joey alone on the deck.

**

* * *

**

"OW!" Joey howled, waving his aching hand. "Of all the stupid…" He sucked on a knuckle. "If she didn't want to talk to me, why the hell did she show up in the first place?" he mumbled into his sore hand.

"So who won the fight, you or the bulkhead?"

Joey looked up to find Yugi walking up the deck toward him. He gave his friend a sheepish grin. "The bulkhead. But I think it cheated."

"You okay?"

"I'm just great," he snapped, then felt bad for taking his frustration out on Yugi. If it had bothered his friend, however, he didn't show it.

"So what happened with Mai?"

Joey groaned and sunk to the floor with his back against the bulkhead and his knees up in front of him. Following his lead, Yugi sat cross-legged beside him. "Nothing, that's what. She disappeared into thin air. I looked everywhere on this stupid ship. I even went to the pursers desk to find out what cabin she's in, but they wouldn't tell me."

"It's a ten-day cruise, Joey. You have to run into her eventually."

"I don't know, for the first two days we're only allowed into the duels in our own division. Something tells me she and I aren't in the same division."

"Still, it's only a matter of time before we're all together in one place."

Joey pounded his fist on his knee. "This is just so stupid! _Three years, _Yuge! I kept that _stupid _letter of hers for _three stupid years _and then when I finally, _finally _realize she ain't interested in coming back, I _finally _tear up the stupid letter and throw it away, _now _she just waltzes up, says 'Oh, by the way, I'm sorry about the whole losing your soul thing' and runs off before I can even say a word? What's up with _that? _We used to be _friends _and now she can't talk to me for more than sixty seconds?"

Yugi's expression turned thoughtful and a little troubled. "It wasn't you, Joey. You're not what upset her."

"No kidding! I swear I'm totally going to knock Tristan all the way back to San Francisco!"

"It wasn't Tristan, either. I think she was prepared for that sort of thing. She even admitted he had a reason not to trust her, that she hadn't been a good friend. I think… I think it was _me_. I was just trying to help, though," he added hastily. "I wanted her to know I understood how it felt to make a mistake like that, one that hurt someone else, someone important to you, but for some reason I upset her."

"Yeah, that was weird the way she freaked out over you not having the Puzzle. What was that about?"

Yugi shrugged. "I don't know. But for some reason, that made her… I don't know… lose her nerve."

"I wish I knew why. But then again, how can I know if she runs off and won't _talk to me?"_ Joey complained. He pounded his knee once more.

"She really means a lot to you," Yugi said, more a statement than a question, "even after all this time."

Joey sighed and leaned his head back against the bulkhead, his eyes closed. "Yuge, I am in so much trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Oh yeah," Joey gritted his teeth. "She is nothing _but_ trouble. She's loud-mouthed, bossy, stuck-up, self-centered, spoiled…" he sighed again. "And I am absolutely crazy about her."

"I know," Yugi replied softly.

"You'd think after three years I'd have grown up and moved on, but I am such an idiot. I carry around a letter for three years like a schoolgirl with a crush on a rock star. How pathetic is that? And then I _finally _give up—and I swear, Yugi, I did. I tore up the letter and everything. Let it fly off Duke's balcony in pieces. And then the _very next day _she shows up only to completely blow me off again. Am I a chump or what?"

"No you're not," Yugi protested.

"I am," Joey insisted. "And let's face it, she has always been totally outta my league anyway. A girl like her and a dumb punk kid like me? Who was I kidding?"

"That's not true and you know it," Yugi chided him softly. "You know she has feelings for you. Why else would it have taken her so long to face you after what happened? Do you think if she'd have played the Seal of Orichalcos on me or Kaiba or someone she would have taken three years to work up the courage to apologize? I don't think it would have taken a week. And why else would she have singled you out when she was with Dartz in the first place?"

That brought a pang of guilt. "Yeah," he agreed, sullen. "That was my fault."

"What? How do you figure?"

"I knew what Marik had done to her, that he had been taking away memories of her friends. I knew how much that hurt her and yet did I do _anything, _one _single thing _after Battle City to let her know she had friends? No."

"None of us did."

"But it was _my _responsibility and I blew it. And why? Because I didn't want her to know how much she meant to me. I didn't want her to laugh at me for being such a loser. So she was left alone and that's why Dartz got to her in the first place."

"That is not your fault, Joey. First of all, you were _sixteen _and she was already an adult. That's reason enough to be intimidated right there. But more than anything, you can't be responsible for the choices other people make. She made her choices. We all make our choices. And when we screw up, we try to do better the next time. That's what… that's what Atem did and that's what Mai's doing. But you didn't do anything wrong. You've been nothing but a good friend. To her, to me, to all of us. And that's why she's not 'out of your league,'" he said making air quotes. "I think that whatever freaked her out, you can talk it out and everything will be fine."

Joey looked at his friend, feeling hopeful again. "You think?"

"I do."

"You're a real optimist there, Yuge."

Yugi cocked his head. "No, I just know you. You're a good guy. And she knows it too."

**

* * *

**

"Joey Wheeler is just a jerk! Who needs him?" Mai said out loud to the ceiling as she lay on the bed in her stateroom. She had moved on. She'd made her amends and if he and his friends were too good to forgive her, then she didn't need any of them. _I have friends, _she thought. _I don't have to be alone just because _he _doesn't want to be with me._

She closed her eyes and rolled over on her side, pulling her covers around her. It had been a hard night, not the least of which was trying to get away from Gopher Evan after he was good enough to help her make her escape. Fortunately he seemed to realize she was going through something and was content just being friendly, which was a nice break. But now she was back in her luxurious stateroom. She'd accomplished what she'd set out to do in regards to Joey Wheeler and his friends, and she could put them behind her and concentrate on the tournament.

Taking a deep calming breath, she let herself relax. As she did the night before any big duel, she let her cards flow through her mind. Harpie Lady. Cyber Harpie. Harpies' Pet Dragon. Harpies' Feather Duster. Elegant Egotist. Harpie Lady Sparrow Formation. Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation. Her key cards. She imagined them each in turn, standing before her.

_Breathe in. Breathe out. They are in the mountains, the Harpies' domain of strength._

_Harpie Lady. Cyber Harpie. They are connected to her. She can feel the link between herself and her Harpies._

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Mountain air._

_Elegant Egotist. Harpie Sisters._

_Breathe in. Breathe out. High above the mountains._

_Harpies' Pet Dragon. Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation. _

_Breathe in. Breathe out. The ocean, a beach._

_Joey. Serenity. Yugi. Téa. Tristan. Duke. _

_They are swimming, enjoying the sun and sand on a warm day. She is in sand, but not with them. She is above, locked in an hourglass. Sand is everywhere, falling from above, entombing her. She reaches out, but there is nothing but sand. There is sand in her hair, her eyes, her mouth. Through the sand, she calls out, but they don't hear. They are oblivious; she is not their friend. She is no one's friend. She is not connected to anyone. There is nothing, no one, only sand. It buries her and she calls out his name…_

"Joey!"

Mai's eyes flew open and she set up, breathing hard, her stomach twisting in cold fear. She brushed hair wet with sweat away from her face, expecting it to be coated in sand. _No, there's no sand, I'm in my room, a stateroom on a ship. There is no sand… _She gripped the covers, feeling the tangible reality of the cotton and wool in her grasp. _There is no sand. I'm safe. I'm not alone._

Except… she _was_ alone. _No. No, I'm not. I have friends. They aren't here with me now, but I have friends I made along the way. I am _not _alone._

Then why the nightmare? It had been so long since this nightmare had haunted her, her Shadow Game with Marik Ishtar, or his dark self, or whatever. She'd had this nightmare so many times in the year between Battle City and joining Dartz, but ever since then, in the time she'd spent rebuilding her life after leaving Dartz, she'd not had it at all. Why now then?

_Because _he's _here._

"No!" she cried, startling herself when she heard her own shout. No, she wasn't going to go there. This was not his fault and she wasn't going to blame him for it, not again. She wasn't going to let a nightmare control her and she wasn't going to let her fears turn her into something she wasn't. Whether Joey Wheeler was her friend or not was irrelevant. He _had _been her friend at one point, a good enough friend to help her find her true self again in the middle of a battle for their souls. The dream came from a Shadow Game that was a _lie _and it would _not _control her. Not again.

Slowly, she lay back down, trying to relax again._ It's only a dream. I am not alone._

But sleep would be a long time coming.


	7. The Tournament Begins

**7. The Tournament Begins**

"Isn't that like your third plate?" Téa asked Joey as he sat down with her, Yugi, Serenity, and Duke in the dining room Sunday morning, his plate heaped high with scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, bacon, and a biscuit.

"You bet," Joey replied happily. "They said it's all you can eat, and I need my energy for dueling today. You know what they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

Téa looked at his plate like she was going to be sick. "That doesn't mean you should eat _all _your meals at breakfast time."

Ignoring her, he dug a fork into his eggs and started eating. "Tho Yu, do yu no wha we ga ow thkedwo?"

His friends all groaned at him and Serenity cried out, "Joey, that is so gross, don't talk with your mouth full!"

Joey swallowed and tried again. "So Yuge, do you know when we get our schedules?"

Yugi shrugged. "Pegasus said we'd get information packets at breakfast, but we are a little early."

"I just wanna know who I'm dueling already," Joey said. He took an overly large bite of his biscuit.

Yugi smiled at him. "You look like you're in a better mood this morning."

"I'm just raring to go," Joey said after he swallowed his biscuit. He leaned in toward his friend. "And thanks for the pep talk, too. That did help."

"I'm glad, Joey."

"So anytime the schedules wanna arrive…." As if on cue, a young woman in a navy blue jacket with DUEL AT SEA OFFICIAL emblazoned across the back appeared at the table.

"Ask and ye shall receive," Duke grinned.

"All right, I have tournament packets for… Mutou, Yugi," she said, shuffling through a stack of folders.

"That's me," Yugi told her, raising his hand. She handed him a folder.

"Wheeler, Joseph."

"Come to papa!" Joey called out, taking his folder. He began thumbing through its contents as she found Duke's folder and handed it to him. Rebecca showed up just as she was about to leave and retrieved her folder as well.

"What, Becky, you slumming with the little people this morning? No breakfast with the Kaibas?" Duke teased.

She snapped something in reply, but Joey didn't hear because he'd finally found his dueling schedule. A slow smile spread over his face.

"Oh man, Yuge, you aren't going to believe this. The dueling gods are smiling on me today! Guess who my first opponent is?"

"Who?"

"Rex Raptor!" Joey rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "I was hoping I'd get a chance to pick him off after what he said on the pier."

Yugi raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. My first duel is with Weevil Underwood."

"Heh heh!" Joey crowed triumphantly. "We get to take them both out in the first round. Sweet!"

"Don't get cocky," Yugi cautioned. "You're better than Rex, but he always has a trick or two up his sleeve."

Joey scowled. "I ain't a greenhorn fresh out of your grandpa's training anymore, Yuge. I can take care of myself."

"I know, I'm just saying."

Téa and Serenity leaned over Yugi's and Joey's shoulders. "So what times are you guys dueling? I hope it's not at the same time." Téa said.

Joey looked at his schedule again. "I'm third duel of the morning."

"I'm fourth, just before lunch," Yugi said, checking his schedule as well.

"Oh good, then we can see you both," Serenity approved. She looked over at Duke. "When do you duel?"

"I'm in the fifth slot, first duel after lunch," he replied.

"I'm the first duel of the morning," Rebecca said.

"That worked out well," Serenity said. "We can go see Rebecca's duel first, then Joey's, then Yugi's, then Duke's after lunch."

"I wish we could see each other's duels," Joey complained. "I hate this rule about only watching your own division the first two days."

"Yeah, I haven't seen you duel since I left Domino," Yugi said. "Well, we'll get a chance when we all make it to the finals, right?"

"You said it!" Joey agreed, pounding his fist with Yugi's. He returned to leafing through his folder. "Ooh, look here, the lowdown on this top four duelists getting a job with Industrial Illusions. I'll have to look that over," he said, skimming it briefly before putting it back in the folder.

"You interested?" Duke asked. "I thought you guys were all about the Pegasus mistrust."

"Oh, I don't trust him," Joey said, "but I could get used to living in a penthouse and having Pegasus pay the bills." He looked at Yugi. "That reminds me, did you guys ever figure out what he's up to anyway?"

Yugi shook his head. "Nope. Kaiba talked to him, but he didn't say anything about why he's hosting this tournament or why he invited us."

"Figures. What do you think?"

"I don't know. He helped us defeat Dartz. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Hey guys, has everyone already eaten?" Joey looked up to find Tristan approaching the table. Joey made a face and took a savage bite of his bacon.

"We're just finishing up," Téa replied. "They just got their duel schedules. Yugi's dueling Weevil and Joey's dueling Rex in the first round."

Tristan laughed. "Oh, that totally _rocks! _ Annihilate them both!" Téa then detailed the schedule for the day. "Sounds good," he told her. He looked over to the buffet line. "Let me get a quick bite first and then we can take off."

As soon as he left, Téa leaned over to Joey and whispered, "I saw that face. You be nice, Joey Wheeler. Tristan is your friend and he's just being protective of you."

Joey said nothing, just took another bite of bacon, to which Téa responded by pulling on his ear.

"I mean it, you be nice!"

"OW!" Joey cried out. "Would you cut it out! I'm gonna have bruises from all the times you keep poking me or stomping on me!"

"Then don't be a jerk," she replied primly, letting go of his ear.

Joey mumbled a long diatribe under his breath, the word "bossy" featuring prominently.

"What did you say?" Téa asked with a menacing glare.

"Nothing," he muttered, eyes on his plate.

Tristan returned to the table with a ham and cheese omelet and a glass of orange juice. "Man, what a spread. How many plates did Joey go through before I got here?"

Téa and Yugi laughed, but Serenity rose abruptly. "Rebecca, isn't your duel starting soon? We should get going."

Rebecca looked at her watch. "Oh, you're right." She stuffed a biscuit into her mouth then stood up.

Téa flashed Tristan an apologetic look. "We really should get going. The Yellow Division is dueling in the Siren Lounge. Meet us there when you finish eating."

"Yeah, fine," Tristan grumbled as Serenity stalked off. Rebecca followed.

"Yugi, Duke, you coming?"

"My duel's not until—HEY!" Yugi cried as Téa hauled him out of his seat by the arm.

"I think you should wish Rebecca luck first," she said. "You too, Duke."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming, don't rip _my_ arm off, too!" He turned to Joey. "Good luck against Dino Boy."

"Yeah, Joey, good luck… would you stop pushing, Téa, I'm coming!" Yugi added.

Joey just shook his head. _Bossy._

Tristan stood still for a moment then sat down. "So… am I persona non grata to the entire Wheeler family, or is it just Serenity who hates my guts?"

Joey sighed. "She doesn't hate your guts, Tristan. She'll just torture you for a day or two and then it'll be fine."

"And you?"

He sighed again. "I don't hate your guts either, you know that. I'm just a little ticked about you being so hard on Mai."

"Because you're not hard enough on her."

"Tristan—"

"No, just hear me out for two seconds, okay? It isn't just the Orichalcos thing. That girl has had you running in circles since we met her. She thrives on attention from guys like you, but does she give anything in return? What has she ever done for you?"

"She got me into the finals at Duelist Kingdom," Joey replied softly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember how we needed those cards to compete and I'd lost mine? She gave me hers. That's why I was able to duel Bandit Keith in the semi-finals."

"Huh," Tristan replied. "So that's where you came up with that card." He shifted in his seat. "Still, it's not like she needed it anymore. Yugi had already beaten her."

"That's not the point, Tristan. She's my friend. She's been my friend ever since then and whatever happened in California is between her and me, not you."

"Yeah, except I'm your friend, too. You know what it was like, finding you slumped over in that vacant lot?"

"Probably a lot like the Pharaoh telling us Yugi was gone. I get it, okay? We got past that, didn't we? Why can't you get past this?"

"Because the Pharaoh screwed up. Mai messes with people. She messes with _you_ and I can't stand to watch her do it. She doesn't care about anyone but herself."

"You're wrong."

Tristan threw his head back in frustration. "Whatever."

"Come on, look at the two of us. Who are we to be judging other people? Where would we be if Yugi hadn't called us his friends even when we didn't deserve it?"

Tristan chuckled. "I don't know, hitting up little kids for their milk money?"

"Exactly. We both know what it's like to be screw-ups and to have someone reach out to us anyway. The thing is, Tristan, like it or not, she's important to me. I want to be her friend and if I get a chance to talk to her, I will. All I'm asking is that if she ends up hanging out with us again, be nice to her. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I suppose." He looked at Joey. "I've always got your back, you know that, right? I just don't wanna see you get hurt again. You're like a brother to me—a pain-in-the-butt brother I never wanted, but still a brother."

Joey smirked at him. "Yeah, I know." He raised his hand in the air, palm flat, for a high five. "Up high or down low?" he asked, but before Tristan could answer, Joey gave him a sucker punch in the gut. It wasn't very hard, but it got the point across. "That's for being a putz."

"You are such a jerk!" Tristan shouted back.

"Nimrod!"

"Doofus!" Tristan paused a moment then in a perfectly friendly tone asked, "So, we're good then?"

"Yeah, we're good." Joey stuffed the last forkful of eggs in his mouth and pushed back from the table. "I gotta get going. See you at my duel?"

"You got it, bro. But hold up a sec. Do you think…?" Tristan shifted uncomfortably. "Could you get your sister to stop giving me the cold shoulder? You gotta admit there's some irony here in not forgiving me for not forgiving someone else."

"I like it just fine when she's not talking to you."

Tristan let out a puff of air. "That's another thing. What exactly is your problem with me and Serenity? What is it you think I'm gonna do to her?"

"You don't even want me to think about it," he warned.

"I'm serious! I'm not a bad guy. I don't even know her that well. I just like her and I want to get to know her better, that's all."

"Which is exactly what worries me."

"Dude, she's your sister and you're my best friend. You think I'd mess with her? You're crazy!"

"Hmm, let me think," Joey said, stroking his chin. "Remind me again who it was who told Serenity he taught me 'everything I know' about Duel Monsters?"

Tristan gave him a sheepish grin. "Oh, give me a break, I was only sixteen. You and I were _both _stupid punks at sixteen."

Joey couldn't argue with that.

"I tell you what. You give me and Serenity a break, and I'll give you and Mai a break. All right?"

Joey considered a moment. "Yeah, I guess."

"So you'll talk to her?"

Joey clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I told you, she'll just torture you for a day or so and then it'll be fine, you'll see. She doesn't stay mad long." He rose from the table. "But listen," he added dangerously, "if you _do _mess with my sister, I'm still gonna have to kill you."

Tristan gave him a half grin. "I'd like to see you try."

**

* * *

**

Téa couldn't remember the last time she'd had such a good day. It was like coming _home_ after a long time away. Ironic, really, that she, a non-duelist, would feel more at home at a Duel Monsters tournament than dancing on a New York stage, but for the first time since leaving Domino, she felt like she was in her element. Watching with Tristan and Serenity as each of her friends dueled, it surprised her to find how much she had missed it. She'd expected to miss her friends but she'd never expected to miss the game. The only thing that marred an otherwise fabulous morning of watching her friends duel was that Serenity was still refusing to speak to Tristan, and as all their other friends were dueling and not allowed to watch each other's matches, Téa alone had to act as a buffer between them at Serenity's insistence. Tristan retaliated by behaving like a child and trying to monopolize Téa's attention, which resulted in her spending much of the day feeling something like the rope in a tug-of-war. Had the duels themselves not been so enjoyable, she likely would have strangled them both by the end of the day.

Rebecca's duel against a large Russian man named Boris Kazakov had set the tone for the day. Kazakov spent most of the duel talking down to her like she was three, which was probably the biggest mistake any competitor could make when facing Rebecca Hawkins. Dressed in her usual dueling attire that resembled an elementary schoolgirl's uniform, knee socks, and her hair in pigtails, she very intentionally evoked that sort of underestimation of her ability, right up to the point where the combination of Marie the Fallen One in her graveyard and Fire Princess on the field leeched away his Life Points. When they hit zero, her back straightened, she looked Kazakov in the eye, and told him, "Perhaps in the future you should not rely on your suppositions about your opponent's acumen based solely on outward presentation and should instead pay attention to strategy as can be evinced in her cards. Or, to put it in a little words you might understand, don't judge a duelist by her pigtails."

Joey's duel about an hour after Rebecca's had ended was even more satisfying. Rex was a predictable duelist who depended on the raw power of his dinosaur cards to overwhelm opponents. He'd managed to get both his Giant Rex and Horned Saurus onto the field, the latter of which could attack Joey's Life Points directly when first summoned, but a lucky roll of Joey's Skull Dice divided Horned Saurus' attack to a fifth its original strength and soon after Joey was able to finish off both monsters with his Thousand Year Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Rex threw a tantrum like a two year old when he lost, shrieking that Joey was a cheat and had stolen Red-Eyes from him, even though he had won it in a fair duel years ago. Tournament officials had to remove Rex from the Acropolis Club where the Blue Division was dueling and even threatened to have him put off the ship in Ketchikan if he continued his outburst.

Yugi's duel was next. Weevil was at least as obnoxious as Rex and twice as full of himself, but he was a more careful strategist. He managed to successfully infect Yugi's Big Shield Gardna with his Parasite Caterpillar and to use DNA Surgery along with Insect Barrier to change all of Yugi's monsters to insects and then prevent them from attacking, both strategies he'd used before. Yugi destroyed Insect Barrier with his Dust Tornado and then used the Poison Butterfly, which the infected Big Shield Gardna had evolved into, to take out Weevil's Great Moth and Dark Magician to finish off Armor Centipede and the rest of Weevil's Life Points before Poison Butterfly's effect could bring Yugi's Life Points all the way to zero. Weevil took his loss better than his friend Rex, but just barely.

After lunch came Duke's battle. Not as seasoned as Yugi, Joey, or Rebecca, Duke's duel was a little more touch-and-go, but he finally beat his opponent, a Brazilian girl named Renata Reis, with his Orgoth the Relentless. When it was over, Duke stayed to watch the other Red Division competitions, but the rest of them took the afternoon off and spent a few hours at the pool. Serenity continued to use Téa as something of a shield to keep herself away from Tristan, but at least with Joey and Yugi there, he had people to talk to without dragging Téa into the middle of it.

"You really should give Tristan a break," Téa told Serenity as they sat with Rebecca in the spa while the guys horsed around in the pool. "He's only got Joey's best interests at heart."

"I know," Serenity told her, "but Mai's really a good person, I know she is. I just want Tristan to see what it feels like when someone won't forgive you for a mistake you've made."

Téa shook her head. "You are really evil."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Rebecca quipped. "I say guys deserve all the grief we can give them."

"Even Mokuba Kaiba?" Téa asked, eyebrow raised.

Rebecca smiled brightly. "Depends on whether or not he asks me out for a walk or something after dinner."

Dinner that night was less formal than the night before and the seven friends celebrated Rebecca's, Joey's, Yugi's, and Duke's victories in the first round. They also learned that both Kaiba brothers, to the surprise of no one, had won their duels, as had Mai Valentine, although the latter they only learned from reading a posting of results in the dining room as she continued to stay away from public areas, including meals. Téa noticed Joey became increasingly sullen as the evening wore on and he still had not had a chance to so much as get a glimpse of Mai, let alone talk to her. Rebecca, on the other hand, got her wish when Mokuba came over to their table and asked if she wanted to go see a vaudeville-style show in the Dionysus Ballroom after dinner. Yugi, who was acting as her chaperone on the trip, suggested they all go together and Duke, Rebecca's other self-appointed "big brother" readily agreed, but no one other than Serenity really wanted to see the show. She and Duke volunteered to go with them, over Rebecca's protests that she didn't need a chaperone, so the others could hang out together. This arrangement made, Mokuba left the dining room with his brother and the rest of them were starting on their dessert when Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor approached their table.

"Wheeler!" Rex snarled at the same time as Weevil sneered "Yugi!"

Téa groaned and slumped down in her seat as Yugi and Joey exchanged eye rolls.

Weevil began, "Don't think because you defeated us—"

"By cheating!" Rex interrupted.

"—that you've seen the last of us!"

Joey jumped up from his seat and glared down at Rex. "Who you calling a cheat, Raptor?"

"Your Skull Dice is loaded!" Rex shot back. "There is no way you could've beaten my Horned Saurus!"

"You better watch your mouth, Dino Breath," Joey seethed with enough venom to bring the rest of the table to their feet as well. "Joey Wheeler doesn't cheat."

"Oh please, how else could a couple of third-rate losers like the two of you keep winning? I haven't figured out your scam yet," Weevil said, turning from Joey to Yugi, "but I will."

"This from a guy whose best dueling strategy was to throw his opponents' cards into the ocean?" Tristan scoffed, referring to their trip to Duelist Kingdom when Weevil threw Yugi's rare Exodia cards overboard.

Weevil's lips curled into an ugly grin as he kept his eyes on Yugi. "Next time it won't be just your cards."

Yugi's eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat, Weevil?" he asked, his voice dangerously low. His game voice.

Téa sucked in her breath. There wasn't a trace of Yugi in his expression, only the Pharaoh.

"Is there a problem here?" Mr. Goradon materialized at the table, flanked by another tournament official and two pursers. "Mr. Underwood and Mr. Raptor!" he said angrily, "You each have already been warned once today. I will have the captain put you off the ship at Ketchikan when we dock if you continue to cause problems!"

"Not to mention send you to the brig until we get there," one of the pursers added.

"Oh who cares about your stupid cruise," Rex grumbled, but Weevil gave the purser an icy smile.

"We don't want to cause any trouble, officer," he said in as close to a silky tone as his shrill voice could accomplish.

"I don't care if they put us off the ship!" Rex cried. "I want that cheat Wheeler out of the tournament!"

"Shut up, Rex," Weevil barked, "I'm not going to spend the night in the brig!"

"I already told you, Mr. Raptor, we have examined the videotape of your duel thoroughly and find no evidence of any cheating," a thoroughly exasperated Mr. Goradon put in.

"I'd be happy to turn over my deck and duel disk and have them examined," Joey growled, glaring at Rex. "I've got nothing to hide."

"That won't be necessary," Mr. Goradon hastily assured him. "Really, Mr. Raptor and Mr. Underwood, I must ask that you leave the dining room immediately."

"Fine, we were just leaving anyway," Weevil sneered. "Come on Rex." They started to walk away, flanked by the pursers, but as they rounded the table and passed Yugi, Téa heard Weevil whisper, "Watch your back, Yugi."

Yugi's only response was to follow with his eyes, his expression icy, as the two duelists were led from the dining room.

When they were gone, Téa put her hand on Yugi's arm. "Okay, they're gone, can we just finish our dessert and get out of here?"

"What are you staring at?" Joey glowered at the tables around them where their fellow duelists had all stopped to gawk at the commotion. People quickly looked away and went back to eating their dinners as the seven friends returned to their seats.

"What is the _deal _with those two?" Serenity asked. "Are they always this obnoxious?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Duke replied. "Little worms, I hope they do get put off the ship when we dock."

"What was with all the threats, though?" Tristan mused. "You think Weevil's planning some sort of revenge?"

"Eh, those two windbags are full of it," Joey replied, waving it off.

Yugi said nothing, his eyes still cold and hard—the Pharaoh's glare.

Téa shuddered. "Forget about those two, all right? Let's just get back to the suite and relax." She put her hand on Yugi's arm again. This time he responded, his eyes softening at her.

"You're right, Téa. We're not going to let those two ruin our trip."

She relaxed a little as they all headed back to the suite, and by the time Mokuba showed up to pick up Rebecca, Duke, and Serenity for the show, they had forgotten all about Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood.

"So what should we do?" Tristan asked when he, Téa, Joey, and Yugi were left alone. "We could go to one of the lounges or check out the shops on the Promenade. I need to get my nephew a souvenir."

"Oh, we have such a nice suite, let's just stay here and enjoy it," Téa said. "We haven't had any time just the four of us."

They decided to play penny Mahjong and Joey dug his set of tiles out from his luggage. For two hours they played and joked together. At the end of two rounds, Téa had pretty much broken even, Joey had lost about seven dollars, Yugi was up by two dollars and Tristan ahead by five.

"And you call yourself the King of Games," Tristan taunted Yugi as he scooped up his pennies. "This oughtta be enough to buy a little toy model of the ship for my nephew."

"We're not finished yet," Joey complained. "You've gotta give me a chance to win back my seven bucks."

Tristan stood up and stretched. "Give it a rest, dude. You _suck."_

Joey scowled. "No way, we'll take a break and then we're going another round. We can order room service, get some chips and soda or something"

The others groaned. "Joey, we had a huge dinner and you had at least two different desserts," Téa moaned. "How can you _eat _so much and not be the size of a sumo wrestler?"

Joey leaned back on the couch with his hands behind his head and propped his feet up on the coffee table, scattering a few Mahjong tiles. "I'm just blessed with a fast metabolism and a naturally muscular physique."

Tristan gave him a small shove that sent him crashing to the floor. "Oh yeah, you da man, Joey," he said, rolling his eyes.

This sparked a wrestling match between the two of them that flung Mahjong tiles everywhere and threatened to overturn the coffee table. Yugi and Téa beat a hasty retreat to the corner of the suite and sat on the floor a safe distance from the melee.

"Think those two will ever grow up?" Téa grumbled.

"Not likely," Yugi chuckled. "And I wouldn't have it any other way, would you?"

Téa smiled. "Nope."

"Man, it's good to be back," he said, leaning his head back with a contented sigh and patting her leg.

His unexpected touch was like a live wire and Téa found herself staring at his hand as it rested casually on her knee. She loved his hands. They were rough and calloused from six months on an archaeological dig, but with long, graceful fingers that didn't seem like they should belong to someone so small in stature. They were like an artist's or a musician's hands. Last night, just putting her hand on his as they stood on deck at the rail had almost made her knees weak. Now she found herself imagining those hands stroking her hair, her face, her lips….

"So, we didn't get a chance to talk last night," Yugi said, patting her leg again and startling her. She looked up to find him watching her and she felt her cheeks get very warm.

"Yeah, that's right," she said, swallowing, suddenly very nervous. Six months without him, six months of waiting to find out if he might possibly feel the same way about her that she felt about him, and now that they finally had a chance to talk, her courage completely failed her. And whatever Duke might say about everyone seeing her as _Yugi's girl,_ she still couldn't tell if his affection for her was any different than his affection for any of his other friends. She could no more say how she felt or ask him how he felt than she could sprout wings and fly. But there were other, safer things to discuss. He'd mentioned wanting to see her dance and she still hadn't told him she was quitting and moving back to Domino. That seemed a place she could begin, anyway. "You were saying you wanted to see me dance on stage."

"Definitely," Yugi said with enthusiasm. "I really wish I could've visited sooner. I was so upset when I realized we weren't going to get back to Cairo in time to make it to New York before the tournament."

"I was thinking, maybe you could come back with me after the cruise before going back to Domino? Since you're already out here, I mean."

Yugi shook his head. "No way. My grandpa is already about to kill me. I haven't been back to Domino once over the past two years—he's had to keep coming to Egypt to see me—and I promised I'd come home first thing as soon as I finished my bachelor's degree, and then this tournament came up and he was very nice about me coming here first, but if I put off going home any longer I think he'll disown me."

"What about your mom? Isn't she in New York?"

Yugi shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. You know my mom; I see her when I see her." Téa always found that sad, but Yugi seemed pretty complacent about how little he saw of his mother. "Anyway," he went on, "I was thinking I could come to New York at the end of the summer, before I start grad school."

Téa sighed. Her contract was up the first week in August and she'd be back in Domino by the middle of the month. If Yugi was planning on spending the whole summer there, she might just miss him, depending on when he had to be back. If he really wanted to see her dance in New York, he'd have to come out in June or July.

"When do you have to be back in Cairo for school?" she asked.

Yugi chewed his lip, looking nervous all of a sudden. "Uh, actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I'm not going back to Cairo."

Téa's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Since when? You've always talked about getting your masters in four years in Cairo!" She cocked her head. "Wait, does this have something to do with the tournament? Are you thinking of staying in California and dueling professionally for Pegasus?"

This seemed to startle him. "Actually, I hadn't really considered it. It is a weird offer, isn't it?"

"Would you like that? To promote Duel Monsters and get to go to all those tournaments?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It would be interesting, I think. But right now, there are other things more important to me." He looked bashful all of a sudden and Téa wasn't sure why.

"But you're not going back to Cairo either? I don't understand."

"It's kind of a long story, Téa but… the last six months in Egypt were not very good. For any of us."

She nodded. "I'll bet it was hard being out of contact with _everyone _for six months."

Yugi hunched his shoulders. "It was more than that. I can't really explain it. It just was… I don't know, _wrong."_

"But I thought you loved Egypt."

"I do," he said quickly. "In some ways it feels like home. I know you understand that."

"Mm hm," she nodded again.

"I wish I could explain it. It's just, the last six months, the dig… it had an effect on us. Professor Hawkins was distracted and having trouble keeping track of things and he lost a lot of weight. Rebecca got depressed and withdrawn, and I felt… disconnected. Like I was becoming more and more the Pharaoh and less and less _me._" He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "That was kind of scary. Feeling like he's still a part of me is one thing, but I don't want to lose myself. I still want to be _me._ Does that make any sense?"

"Yes. I wouldn't want you to stop being you, either, Yugi," she said, although she didn't really understand why the dig would have such an effect on him. She folded her arms and rubbed them as if suddenly feeling a chill.

"It didn't get better until we started heading back to Cairo. Even with all those delays—the sandstorms and the missed buses and everything—it was like waking up from a bad dream. We all started feeling like our old selves again." He paused, then waved his hand as if trying to dispel a fog. "Anyway, before that, about two months ago, Professor Hawkins said he thought it was time to leave Egypt and go back to America. He and Rebecca are coming back home to California. And he suggested I take a break, too."

Téa's heart leapt as a thought occurred to her. "Yugi, are you staying back home in Domino?" she asked, hardly daring to hope it could be true. _We'd be together again, in the same city!_

But as quickly as her hopes had risen, they came crashing down again when he shook his head. "Oh, no, not Domino. There's not a very good masters program for me there. Actually," he said, shifting his seat, looking anxious again, "Professor Hawkins thought I should study in America."

Téa tried her best to hide her disappointment. "America? Then you _are _staying in California."

Yugi swallowed. "Uh… that's one option, I guess. There are two schools Professor Hawkins has affiliations with that he thinks would be perfect for me. One is UC Berkeley, where he'll be teaching, but I… I'm kinda leaning toward the other one. Columbia University."

The air rushed out of Téa's lungs like she'd been kicked in the chest. "Columbia University? You mean the one in New York?" she choked.

"Yeeeaah, unless you know of another Columbia University," he said slowly, looking puzzled by her reaction. "It'd be kinda nice to be in the same city, don't you think?"

At the moment she couldn't think, couldn't feel anything. She could only gape at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. You aren't really going to be moving to New York City?"

Now he looked a little alarmed. "Uh… I haven't decided yet, you know, which school has the better program. It's just a possibility. I… I did want to ask you what you thought. You know, having lived in New York and all, what it's like and everything."

She had no idea what to say, what to feel. _He might be moving to New York at exactly the same time I'll be moving back to Domino. _She didn't trust herself to speak, feeling like she would burst into tears. If only she hadn't been so quick to throw everything away to get away from New York. And here he was just looking for friendly advice about which program might better suit him and what the _city _was like, thinking it might be _kinda nice _to be in the same place. She felt like a crushing weight had landed on her chest and wouldn't release her. She had a pressing urge to get away, give herself space to think.

"Téa?" he asked, clearly bewildered by her bizarre reaction.

At that moment, Duke, Serenity, Rebecca, and Mokuba walked into the suite and Téa saw her opportunity for escape. "I… I think you should go to whichever school has the best program," she said quickly. "I just remembered, I promised Serenity I'd… I'd do, you know, the girl thing with her tonight. I… I think she wants to talk about Tristan. I'll talk to you later." She jumped up and without looking back, rushed over to Serenity, still standing in the doorway with Duke, Rebecca, and Mokuba.

"Serenity, I'm ready, let's go," she said, taking the other girls arm and ushering her toward the door.

"Huh?" Serenity asked, completely baffled.

"Just play along," she whispered urgently, "you owe me after using me as a buffer between you and Tristan all day."

"Uh, okay," she said and allowed herself to be dragged out the door. "See you guys later," she waved to their puzzled friends.

Once out in the hall, the door shut behind them, Téa leaned heavily against the wall and the tears finally came.

"Oh my God, Téa, what's wrong?" Serenity cried in alarm.

Téa shook her head. "Not here," she heaved between sobs, "somewhere private."

"Our room?" Serenity asked, indicating the next door over with a tilt of her head.

Téa shook her head again. "Rebecca…"

"Oh, she'll be in there making goo-goo eyes at Mokuba for a couple of hours at least," Serenity assured her. "Come on, you need to sit down," she said.

Téa let Serenity put her arm around her shoulder and guide her down the hall to the door of their room. Once inside, she collapsed on her bed, a worried Serenity beside her.

"Téa, what's wrong, what happened?"

Again Téa shook her head. "It's so stupid, I'm _so_ stupid,"she sobbed fiercely.

"What?"

Téa took a great shuddering breath. "Yugi might be going to grad school in New York."

"What? Okay, wait. I thought he would be in Cairo for two more years."

"I know," Téa heaved, trying to catch her breath, "but I guess things didn't go well on the dig. The Hawkinses are going back to California and the professor thinks Yugi should study in America, either in California or New York."

"Right when you're leaving," Serenity said, understanding.

Téa felt a fresh round of tears wash over her and she could only nod.

Serenity hugged her. "Oh Téa, what lousy timing."

Téa pulled back. "It's not just that," she gasped, trying again to catch her breath. "I realized that I have made the biggest mistake of my life."

"You want to stay in New York now," Serenity said softly.

"Yes," Téa agreed, "which means I'm leaving for all the wrong reasons in the first place. I… I could have gone to school in America, renewed my student visa, but I missed everyone so much, so I picked Domino instead, so I could be with Joey and you, which as much as I love you guys is the totally wrong reason to pick where to go to school. But even the possibility that Yugi _might _be in New York makes me realize I should have stayed, I should have worked on getting a green card. I don't want to live in Japan, Serenity. I just wanted to be with my friends."

Serenity regarded her for a moment. "It's more than that and you know it, Téa. You want to be with _Yugi_."

Unable to deny it, Téa gave a feeble nod, sniffling.

Serenity sat back. "Okay, so how exactly did all this happen? Does he know you're moving back to Domino?"

She shook her head. "We were talking about when he could come to New York to see me dance and I was going to tell him I'm moving soon, but then he told me he wasn't going back to Cairo but to either California or New York. _New York. _I just… I lost it. I didn't know what to say."

"Téa, why don't you just tell him how you feel? Then the two of you _together _can figure out where to go to school."

Téa recoiled, horror-struck at the thought. She'd already lost her nerve somewhere in all the worry over his late arrival and then the rush of emotions she'd felt when finally did make it. Now it seemed even more impossible, like she would definitely be repeating the same mistake she'd made two years ago. "No way, absolutely not. I did that once before, before graduation, and it was the worst, most selfish thing I could've done. We couldn't be together anyway and he was going through all that stuff over Atem." She shook her head. "I can't do that to him again."

"Téa, come on, you two have got to _talk._ Don't you think he should know you're in love with him?"

Téa's heart raced. She'd never actually used that word when talking with their mutual friends about Yugi. Hearing it out loud from Serenity made her cry anew.

"You do know he's got a thing for you, too, don't you?" Serenity added.

She jerked her head up and looked at her friend through her tears. "Oh, Serenity, I don't think so."

Serenity snorted. "Are you serious? Good Lord, Téa, that boy has _always _had a thing for you. Why else do you think he'd want to go study in New York in the first place?"

Of course that thought had occurred to her, even through her shock when he'd first said it was a possibility. But the way he'd said it might be _kinda nice _to be in the same city, the way he'd made a point of saying he hadn't made up his mind yet, that he didn't know which was the better school, that he just wanted her advice about what the city was like, convinced her that her presence in New York wasn't a factor in the decision. More of an added benefit. Because they were _friends_, nothing more.

"No," she told Serenity, "he said he hasn't decided which is the better school. Me being there has nothing to do with it."

Serenity gave her a skeptical smirk. "Well _yeah, _I'm sure he started back pedaling furiously if you 'lost it.' Just think about it from his perspective. He's considering moving to the city where he thinks you'll be and you act like it's the worst thing in the world. You probably scared the poor guy half to death."

"He doesn't—"

"Téa," Serenity smiled, shaking her head like a mother amused at her young child's naïve view of the world. "He _stares _at you whenever you're in the same room together. I thought he was going to faint when he saw you in that dress last night. I'm telling you, he's got it _bad_ for you."

For some reason, the whole idea made her simultaneously thrilled and uncomfortable. But what did Serenity know? In all the years Téa had known him, Yugi had never so much as given the slightest hint that he saw her as anything other than a friend, even when she'd admitted that she liked him. He treated everyone like they were the most important person in the world. She told Serenity as much, which only made Serenity gape at her.

"You're _joking, _right? Dear God, girl, are you _blind? _Granted, he's never gonna be like Joey, all dopey over Mai; he's too reserved for that. But he would move the earth for you if he could. It's _obvious. _The only person who doesn't see it is _you_."

This reminded Téa again of Duke and the "Yugi's girl" thing, which only served to aggravate her further. "This from a girl with observation skills so stellar she doesn't even notice she's got the entire male population of this ship after her."

Serenity frowned and folded her arms. "I notice," she said sourly, "I just try and ignore it. Do you know what I would give to have a guy actually talk to me while looking me in the eye? They all seem to aim about a foot too low." She sighed. "Well, Yugi, Tristan and Duke talk to me like a person anyway."

Téa rolled her eyes. "See what I mean? Tristan and Duke are as bad as the rest of them, and you don't even notice."

"Oh, I know they're both horrible flirts and all that and they like to get in stupid macho contests with each other, but that's more their friendship with each other than anything to do with me, really. And they still actually _look _me in the eye when they're talking to me and they treat me like a real person." She waved her hand dismissively. "But you're trying to change the subject, which is _Yugi, _and the only person he _ever _looks at is _you_. He's always been that way around you. I'll bet he isn't even aware there are other girls on this ship, or, you know, the _planet_."

"You're wrong," Téa insisted miserably.

"I'm not wrong, Téa. But even if I were, you still need to talk to him. You can't just leave it like this."

Téa eyed her. "Like you with Tristan?"

"Oh, this is _so _not about me," she said, "so quit trying to change the subject. But for your information, I was _going _to talk to him tonight until _someone _dragged me in here." She put her hands on Téa's shoulders. "Téa, just talk to him. You know he needs to know why you freaked. If for no other reason than he's your _friend."_

_Which is exactly why this is so hard. I almost ruined our friendship once already, _she thought. But Serenity was right and she knew it. "I know, you're right. He probably thinks I'm a complete mental case," she groaned. "But… I need to pull myself together first. I… this is too messed up right now. I don't think I could tell him I'm moving without bursting into tears."

"So what? He can handle a few tears. Go. Talk to him!"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not going to repeat the same mistake I made two years ago. It wasn't fair to him to unload on him like that. Give me a day, okay? He's got two rounds of duels tomorrow anyway and I don't want to distract him from that. After tomorrow there's a whole day off. I can talk to him tomorrow after dinner."

Serenity cocked her head, skeptical. "You don't think he's already gonna be distracted if you freaked out on him? I think you should talk to him now."

"No, I can't, seriously. One day. I promise I'll talk to him tomorrow."

Serenity folded her arms again. "One day. If you don't say something, I will."

"Serenity…"

"I'm serious. You two have been dancing around each other for _five years_. This isn't high school anymore."

"I know."

"I mean it."

"I _know,"_ Téa repeated. "You know, for someone who spent the _entire day _using me as a shield so you wouldn't have to talk to a boy, you're pretty self-righteous."

Serenity threw her head back and let out a puff of air. "Okay, okay. I already told you, I was gonna talk to him as soon as we got back from the show. I'd go in there and talk to him now, but I think you could use the company right now."

Téa nodded. "Thanks."

Serenity smiled. "So tomorrow. I'll apologize to Tristan and you talk to Yugi. Deal?"

She nodded again. "Deal."


	8. Communication Breakdown

**8. Communication Breakdown**

Yugi moved through the second day of the tournament on Monday in something of a fog. He'd slept poorly, his mind too occupied with Téa's strange reaction to the possibility of his going to school in New York to allow sleep to come. He just couldn't figure it out. When he'd imagined telling her about New York, gauging it to see her response, he'd envisioned a whole spectrum of reactions she might have, everything from a sort of schmaltzy soap-opera-ish scene where she throws her arms around him, thrilled that they could be together at last to what he'd thought was the worst case scenario where she says something along the lines of "Oh, that's _fabulous, _I can't wait for you to meet my new American boyfriend, I know you'll be _such _great friends!"

Never once in his worst nightmares did he imagine she would be _horrified _at the thought of him possibly living in the same city.

_I thought we were friends,_ he kept thinking. _At the very least, I thought we were friends._

Replaying the conversation in his mind, he turned over every word, every syllable, trying to figure out where he went wrong, what he could have possibly said to upset her, to make even the possibility that he _might _be moving to New York the worst thing ever. He couldn't come up with anything that made any sense. The only thing he could think was that maybe he'd sounded too much like he was going there just for her and it scared her. She had a new life, new friends. She'd been dating. No one serious that he knew of, but then again he had been out of the loop for six months. A lot could happen in six months. The last guy she'd dated she'd only just broken up with before Yugi had left Cairo. Maybe they got back together. Heck, she could've gotten engaged in those six months for all he knew.

_No. Someone would've told me. There's no way we could go a day and a half on a ship together and no one let slip that she's serious about someone._

Then again, she had been trying to tell him something the night before when they'd been interrupted by Joey. Every time he'd mentioned going to New York to see her, she'd acted funny, like there was something he didn't know.

_Oh no, it's true, _he thought miserably. _She has a serious boyfriend and she didn't know how to tell me. And then I go and make it sound like I'm moving to New York just to be with her, so of _course_ she freaked. _He groaned. That must be it. It all made sense. But if that was it, he could make it right. He could tell her he'd decided to go to California instead, that Berkeley was a better school and that he wanted to keep studying with Professor Hawkins. If he could show her it was no big deal, that he could be just friends, that she didn't have to worry, it would be fine.

Well, not _fine, _really. But better than _this _anyway.

He didn't get much of an opportunity to say anything to her, however. At breakfast she avoided him, choosing a seat with Serenity as far on the other side of the table as she could possibly get from him. He even thought she wasn't going to come to his first duel of the morning; it had already started when she and Tristan arrived, and it was only then that he remembered Joey's duel had been just before his and it had probably run long.

Only when he was dueling did the fog clear and he was able to think past Téa and the night before. Lost in his deck and the Heart of the Cards once the duel had started, he hadn't been thinking of her until she and Tristan arrived, and though he had felt immense relief just knowing she cared enough to come, he was easily swallowed back into the game moments later. His second round opponent was an Irish woman named Cassie O'Toole. She had a very strong Earth deck, but Yugi had beaten her without too much difficulty and advanced to the third round.

As soon as Cassie's Life Points hit zero, the escape the duel offered was gone and Téa immediately returned to the forefront of his thoughts. Folding up his duel disk, he headed over to where she and Tristan had been standing, but they were already working their way out of the room.

"Téa!" he called out, but she just gave him a sort of plastic smile and waved instead of stopping.

"Great duel, Yugi! We gotta go catch Duke's duel now." And they were gone.

Lunch was about the same as breakfast, with Téa glued to Serenity's side on the opposite end of the table. At least there were plenty of distractions; Joey, Duke, and Rebecca had all won their second round duels as well and would be competing in their respective division semi-finals in the afternoon. Duke and Rebecca were both dueling right after lunch and he and Joey were dueling before dinner. Mokuba stopped by long enough to flirt with Rebecca and tell them both he and Kaiba had also advanced to their division semi-finals. According to the scoreboard the tournament officials kept in the dining room, Mai Valentine had also advanced, but they still had yet to see any sign of her.

After lunch, Yugi was back in the Apollo Dome on the Sun Deck where the Black Division duels were being held. He watched the first duel, a rousing match between a Swedish duelist with a dragon deck and a Canadian with a wind monster deck. The Swede, a tall thin reed of a man named Alrik Cronhielm, prevailed in a rather surprising turnaround when he was able to special summon the very rare Armed Dragon Level 7 to the field when he was down to only two hundred Life Points. With the sacrifice of Chaos Emperor Dragon from Alrik's hand to the Graveyard, Armed Dragon Level 7's special effect destroyed all of his opponent's monsters with an attack strength of three thousand or less. This included all three monsters the Canadian had on the field, leaving his twenty-seven hundred remaining Life Points open to attack from Armed Dragon's twenty-eight hundred attack points. Yugi was impressed. Alrik would be a tough opponent to defeat in the Black Division finals—assuming Yugi won his next duel, that is.

Yugi's opponent for the division semi-finals was a young boy from Tokyo named Sho Inoue. Joey had dueled with him many times in various tournaments in Japan and had warned him that he was a bright kid with a spellcaster deck similar to Yugi's. Joey figured he was a fan of Yugi's, though at first Yugi was pretty sure his friend was vastly overstating the case. As he'd watched Sho duel in the first two rounds, however, he'd been surprised to see how similar the boy's style was to his own. As his duel was announced, he and Sho exchanged decks to shuffle and cut then shook hands. As Yugi walked back to his place and slid his deck into its slot on the duel disk, he glanced at the crowd gathered to watch. He was relieved to see Téa slip into the room. She gave him a somewhat guarded smile and a wave and he gave a short nod of acknowledgement in return. _She's here. She could have gone to Joey's duel instead, but she came to see me. _It was a start, anyway.

The duel was long and difficult and somewhat eerily reminiscent of the Ceremonial Duel where he battled Atem. There were no Egyptian God monsters or Seal of the Golden Chest, but he did feel at times like he was playing against himself. Sho matched him card for card, turn for turn and looked like he might win when he had both Dark Magician and Dark Magician of Chaos on field to face Yugi's Dark Magician and Beta the Magnet Warrior. Sho's Dark Magician destroyed Yugi's Beta the Magnet Warrior while his Dark Magician of Chaos attacked Yugi's Dark Magician, but Yugi activated his Magical Hats and Sho attacked the wrong hat, sparing Yugi's Magician. Still, Yugi lost eight hundred of his one thousand Life Points while Sho still had sixteen hundred Life Points remaining.

Yugi then drew Magic Formula. With a victorious smile, he played Monster Reborn to bring back Beta the Magnet Warrior, which he immediately sacrificed to summon Dark Magician Girl. He then attacked Sho's Dark Magician with his own, sending them both their respective Graveyards and increasing Dark Magician Girl's attack from two thousand to twenty-six hundred. Next he equipped her with Magic Formula, increasing her attack another five hundred points, giving her thirty-one hundred attack points to Dark Magician of Chaos's twenty-eight hundred. She destroyed him, bringing Sho's Life Points down by three hundred. He now had thirteen hundred Life Points to Yugi's two hundred, but no monsters on the field. The best he could do on his next turn was to play a facedown card in defense mode and another facedown card.

Yugi drew Mystical Space Typhoon. He played Celtic Guardian in attack mode, and then played Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Sho's facedown card, which turned out to be Mirror Force. Had he been able to play that card, he would have destroyed all of Yugi's monsters in attack position as soon as one of them attacked. Without it, he had only his facedown defense monster to defend his Life Points. Yugi attacked it with Dark Magician Girl; it was Big Shield Gardna with twenty-six hundred defense points, not enough to save it. Then Celtic Guardian attacked Sho's Life Points directly, bringing him down to zero.

The tournament judge stepped onto the playing field between Yugi and Sho. "The duel goes to Yugi Mutou, who will play Alrik Cronhielm in the Black Division Final two days from now. The Duel at Sea Tournament Host, Mr. Maximillion Pegasus would like to extend an invitation to both Mr. Mutou and Mr. Cronhielm to join him tonight at seven o'clock for a private dinner in the Acropolis Club for division semi-finalists only, no guests. Attendance mandatory. Congratulations, Yugi Mutou and best of luck to you in the division finals!"

The judge shook Yugi's hand then Sho's. Finally, Sho and Yugi shook hands with each other.

"It was an honor playing you, sir," Sho said almost shyly. "I've been following your career since Duelist Kingdom."

Yugi blushed. "You played very well. How old are you?"

Now it was Sho's turn to blush. "Fourteen."

"I was fifteen when I played at Duelist Kingdom. You like spellcaster cards?"

"I've always liked Dark Magician."

"Me too. It was a pleasure dueling you. I'm sure we'll play again in other tournaments."

"I look forward to it, sir."

"No 'sir.' Please just call me Yugi."

A smile spread across Sho's face and his blush deepened. "Thank you, Yugi." They bowed to each other and parted, Yugi's eyes immediately scanning the crowd for Téa, but she was nowhere to be seen. His heart sinking in disappointment, he checked his watch. It was already six thirty and he had to be at the Acropolis Club in half an hour. _Stupid Pegasus. Why did he have to have a private dinner tonight?_

Frustrated, he headed out of the Apollo Dome toward the Aloha Deck and their suite to change for dinner. With a little luck, maybe she'd be there and he could talk to her a few minutes before he had to go, although he sort of doubted it. If she were avoiding him, which she seemed to be, she wouldn't be anywhere near the suite, at least not without Serenity attached at the hip.

He sighed. Well, at least Joey was likely to have better luck tonight. Yugi was fairly certain both he and Mai would have made it to their respective division semi-finals. If attendance at Pegasus's dinner was mandatory, then Mai would have to be there and Joey would finally get a chance to talk to her.

_Hope your luck is better than mine, _Yugi wished for his friend.

**

* * *

**

He looked out the window of his penthouse watching the city lights start to wink on below. It was warm for May in San Francisco, but having spent the better part of the last two years in Egypt, the air felt chilly to him. Though born in London and raised in Bath, he'd always felt most at home in Egypt. It was his land, his domain.

His birthright.

The phone on the desk behind him rang and he picked it up without averting his gaze from the window. "Yes?"

"Everything's ready." The voice sounded tinny and there was a bit of white noise in the background, though not as much as he would have expected. Ship-to-shore telecommunications had improved greatly over the years.

"What was the reaction when our host announced himself?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"Everyone was pretty stunned. Kaiba about wet himself and Mutou and his group looked like they were having a little conference about it. Valentine completely wigged out." He paused. "You knew it was Pegasus all along, didn't you?"

He laughed, but it was completely devoid of humor. "Of course. Why else would I be interested in this tournament? But what of your other assignments?"

"Going very well, I think. I've had some unexpected… opportunities. Quite enjoyable."

He frowned, guessing by his tone exactly what that might mean.

"Oh, and yesterday at dinner was brilliant. Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor accused Mutou and Wheeler of cheating. Underwood actually threatened them. Almost had to put them off the ship."

He smiled, amused. "Fabulous! It must have been very engaging. And it will of course raise some eyebrows after tonight."

"Yes. I imagine they'll be getting some scrutiny over the next few days."

"Excellent! It will give you some breathing room. And they can be useful down the road, too."

"I don't know, sir. They're pretty brainless."

"They don't need to be intelligent, just easily manipulated. Given their hatred of Mutou and Wheeler, I don't think that will be a problem. Keep up with them and your other subject as well—but let's not enjoy ourselves _too _much," he said, a note of warning in his voice. "Do not misplace your loyalties."

"Never, sir!" came the protest, and he was pleased to hear the appropriate amount of abashment. "My loyalty is only to you."

"Yes. Now, tell me your plans for this evening."

"Well, first I have to go to some dinner Pegasus is holding for the 'sweet sixteen.' After that, when the crew is changing shifts, I'll have a chance to get into the bridge. Incoming and outgoing communications and navigation will be incapacitated then."

"Will it be discovered too soon?"

"I don't think so, no, not for a few hours at any rate. Even if they do, I will take care of it. As for the main event, that should be right on schedule. We're good to go."

"Excellent."

"I won't be able to communicate with you for a while once everything is put into motion. It will be difficult for me to separate myself once we've landed."

"Of course, although I have other ways of staying informed as to what is going on once you've arrived. You have Reshef the Dark Being. When he is with you, I am with you."

"Yes. He's in my deck."

"You understand what must happen then?"

"Yes, sir."

"The duels must continue, although the tournament must not finish, and if at all possible, find a way to remove our two so-called 'pharaohs' reincarnate from the picture."

There was a pause. "Are you sure, sir? Wouldn't their contribution be the most valuable?"

He arched his eyebrow. "You think you can beat them?"

"Yes, sir."

He laughed again, with the same lack of mirth. "You grossly underestimate them, I believe, and should _you _be defeated, we'll lose any gains we will have made. No, it would be best for them to be removed from the picture entirely. But, failing that, you must _only _face them at the appointed place, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. Do not attempt to battle Kaiba or Mutou unless you are in the Chamber of Wedju. Only there will the power over them be strong enough for you to prevail. I have spent the better part of three years personally preparing that chamber. It is where you must eventually bring all of them."

There was another pause, which meant the other man was questioning him again. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing; he liked his servants to be able to think for themselves. However, any more than this and he would be bordering on insubordination. "You doubt my wisdom?"

"No, sir, of course not. I just think when we get the items into their hands—"

"That will be a start, yes, but it won't be enough. And there's a very good chance Mutou won't be fooled. But no matter. Long before that, they will begin to feel the darkness if you plan it carefully. I believe Mutou and Valentine will be the most susceptible, although the others will be as well. Oh, and the young Miss Hawkins." His lips curled into a leering grin. "I believe she will also feel the effects immediately. I don't know why she's so susceptible, but she is." He took just a moment to enjoy the idea of causing the girl—and by extension, her grandfather—some pain before getting back to the point. "But do try and remove Kaiba and Mutou if you can. And Pegasus, too, come to think of it, though you are welcome to battle him outside of the chamber if necessary. Underwood and Raptor may prove useful in these endeavors."

"Yes, sir."

"I… I wish I could be there myself, but it isn't yet time for my personal involvement, other than through Reshef the Dark Being, of course. I trust you to handle things. You are my _Tjaty_, my trusted Vizier."

"Thank you, sir."

"You are familiar with the location, correct? You have planned out every detail?"

"Yes, sir."

"You will find everything there you need. Good luck tonight and over the course of the next few days. I leave the rest in your capable hands."

"Thank you again, sir. I will not fail you."

"See that you don't."

The line disconnected and so too went his last line of formal communication with his vizier For the rest, he would have to wait for the darkness to do its work.


	9. Frustrations

**9. Frustrations**

Joey drummed his fingers impatiently on the table as Pegasus blathered on about the upcoming division finals and the tournament quarter-finals that would follow and determine who would be offered contracts as professional duelists for Industrial Illusions, yadda yadda ya. Normally Joey would pay close attention to anything Pegasus said, not because the guy was interesting—he was sort of a scary fruitcake, in Joey's opinion—but merely because Pegasus was often up to his single eyeball in shady dealings and it was in the best interest of Joey and his friends to figure out what he was up to. For the second time three days, however, Pegasus's words washed over him, unable to penetrate past the one thing that was on his mind: Mai Valentine.

She was here, in this very room, three tables over from where he sat with Yugi, Rebecca, and Mako Tsunami (Duke had lost in the third round to Zigfried von Schroeder and was not with them). Dressed more casually than the other night in a dark purple jacket over a white tank top and skin-tight purple jeans tucked into knee-high black boots, she looked more like he remembered her, long blonde hair loose and flowing over her shoulders. She was talking animatedly with Alrik Cronhielm and Leon and Zigfried von Schroeder as if she didn't have a care in the world, but Joey noticed she was very aware of his presence in the room, if only because she quite deliberately avoided even so much as glancing his way.

Dragging his eyes off her, Joey shoveled a forkful of peach cobbler into his mouth and looked up toward Pegasus, but still couldn't focus on what he was saying. He glanced at Yugi, who looked as bored as he felt and quite possibly twice as miserable. He wasn't sure what that was about, but he'd make a point of finding out—_after _he had a chance to talk with Mai, that is.

Finally Pegasus stopped talking and there was a smattering of polite applause. Joey clapped along with everyone else while leaning over to Yugi and whispering, "Uh, what's next?" hoping his friend had been listening better.

"Pegasus is doing a drawing to determine the order of the duels on Wednesday," Yugi informed him blandly.

Joey frowned. "You okay?"

Yugi nodded unconvincingly.

A man Joey recognized as Pegasus' right-hand man in Duelist Kingdom, a humorless toady named Croquet, brought Pegasus a bingo-style tumbler. It was opaque so they couldn't see what was inside. Pegasus turned the crankshaft a few times and Joey could hear what sounded like marbles rolling around inside.

"Oooh, the suspense!" Pegasus cooed, and Joey rolled his eyes. Finally Pegasus reached in and pulled out a small green ball. "And the first duel of the division finalists will be the Green Division!" he announced as if he'd just given birth to a healthy nine pound baby boy.

Another smattering of applause and Pegasus repeated the process until all eight balls had been drawn. Next came Red, then Orange, White, Violet, Yellow, Blue, and Black. So Joey's duel would be second to last and Yugi's would follow.

"And now everyone, group picture!" Pegasus sang out. "Come on, gather 'round. I want a picture with my sixteen division semi-finalists!"

There was sort of a collective groan, but a group picture sounded good to Joey. It meant Mai would have to stand within a few feet of him. Surely he could catch her afterwards and talk to her. The sound of chairs scraping back echoed across the Acropolis Club as people got up and made their way over to the small stage where Pegasus waited.

The sixteen duelists grouped around their host by their divisions: Yugi and Alrik from the Black Division, Kaiba and an Argentinean named Raul Pérez from the White Division, German Zigfried von Schroeder and American Christine Aileas from the Red Division, Zigfried's brother Leon and American Lawrence Andrews from the Orange Division, Rebecca and Kenan Bagatui of Kenya from the Yellow Division, Mokuba and a Frenchman named Jacques Rousseau from the Green Division, Joey and Mako from the Blue Division, and finally Mai and yet another American named Renée Carole from the Violet Division. A photographer cracked cheesy jokes and tried to get them to smile as he took several pictures. Finally he was finished and Pegasus released them with a jovial wish of a relaxing day off tomorrow and good luck in the Division Finals on Wednesday.

As soon as they were excused, Mai went directly for the door, but Joey was at her side in an instant. "Hey Mai, can we talk?"

She stopped and looked at him for the first time since fleeing from the ballroom Saturday night. Her body was somewhat rigid and her expression unreadable. "I really don't think there's anything else to say, do you?"

"You don't—" Joey began, a flush of anger washing over him. "You disappear off the face of the earth for almost three years, then pop up without any warning, say what _you _have to say and then disappear again without letting me get in a single word and now _you _decide there isn't anything else to say? I don't think so. I think you owe me a chance to respond."

She sighed. "What's the point, Wheeler? You think you can tell me anything I haven't already told myself? I know what I did was unforgivable. I don't need you driving the point home. I can't do anything else to make up for what I did, so let's just call it done. You go your way and I'll go mine."

She turned to leave again, but Joey grabbed her arm. "Nothing doing, Mai. I've got some things I want to say to you and you're gonna listen."

Her eyes hardened. "Let me go," she said, an unmistakable note of warning in her voice.

"All I want is five minutes. You owe me that much."

"What I _owed _you was an apology and you got one. Now _let me go."_

"Is there a problem here?" A purser appeared next to them, his voice authoritative. Mai seemed to know him; she immediately smiled at him and went into what Joey thought of as her "routine."

"No problem, Evan," she said, dripping honey to the purser. "Just the usual bravado between competitors."

He was not convinced. "I think you should let go of the lady's arm," he advised Joey.

"We're just having a conversation here," Joey shot back, but he released Mai's arm.

"Yes, but it was getting boring," Mai drawled, taking the purser arm. "Buy a girl a drink, Evan?"

"Mai—" Joey pleaded, but she ignored him while the purser shot him a warning look.

"I think the lady would prefer to be left alone."

"Fine!" Joey barked. He turned on his heel and almost ran right into Yugi. "Come on, Yuge, let's get the hell outta here."

The two friends made their way back to their suite, where Joey wrenched open the door as if he were trying to pull it off its hinges, stomped in, and slammed it shut behind them. "Women!" he shouted. "Who needs them?" He took off his jacket and flung it across the room. "Who the hell does she think she is anyway? _She _screws _me _over and now _I'm _the jerk? I don't think so!" He kicked over a wastepaper basket by the desk in the corner. "I just wanted to _talk. _To tell her _I don't care what happened three years ago. _But can she listen for _five seconds? _No. She's too busy running off at the mouth. Well screw it. If she doesn't need me then I sure as _hell _don't need her!" He pounded his fist into the wall; the same fist, he belatedly realized, that he'd hurt punching the bulkhead on the deck two nights earlier. "OWWWWWWW!" he roared, shaking his hand out again. Angrily he put his injured knuckles to his mouth and sucked on them. Over the back of his hand he saw Yugi standing patiently in the corner, waiting out his tirade.

"You finished?" Yugi asked, unruffled.

"Yeah," Joey said at last. "I seriously need to just wake up and get over this girl already."

Yugi didn't say anything.

Joey shook out his hand again and looked around the otherwise empty suite. "Hey, where is everyone?"

"Well, Rebecca made friends with those two American girls who are only a couple years older than her. Christine and Renée, I think their names were. They went to go see the movie in the ship's theater."

"What, no Mokuba?"

Yugi shook his head. "Maybe Kaiba decided Mokuba was spending too much time slumming with the commoners," he deadpanned.

Joey smiled in spite of himself. "Probably. And the others?"

Yugi indicated a piece of the ship's stationery taped to the inside of the door behind him. "According to this note, they all went to see some singer in the ballroom. You wanna go?"

Joey shook his head. "Not really. You?"

"No." Yugi folded his arms. "You know what we need? Grab your jacket and your duel disk. We're gonna go up and find some empty space on the top deck and duel, you and me."

Joey cocked his head. "Getting worried about the competition?"

"Of course," Yugi grinned. "You _are _Japanese National Champion and I haven't seen you duel in two years. Come on."

Joey nodded. "You're on."

"Let me just leave a note for Duke to make sure Rebecca gets in okay," Yugi said, grabbing a pen and scrawling something on the paper still taped to the door.

"You know," Joey told him as they headed out the door, "a proper big brother would go to the movie with her just to make sure the boys stay away."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "No, that would be a paranoid, obsessive-compulsive big brother."

"And your point is?"

Yugi chuckled. "I think I'll let Duke beat the boys off. That's more in line with his personality than mine. Besides, so far it's only Mokuba, and I like him."

"Yugi, Yugi, Yugi," Joey clucked his tongue. "Big Brother Lesson Number One. All guys are scum. Every last one of them. Trust no one."

"Joey, your world is a scary place," Yugi replied, shaking his head as he stepped into the elevator.

"Hey, wait a minute, I'm not done yet!" Joey called out as he stepped into the elevator after him.

**

* * *

**

"That's it, I'm done."

Joey folded up his duel disk and took a swig from a bottle of water that had been resting at his feet. He found a lounge chair on the side of the deck and sat down, tired but content. No matter what else was going on, a good duel—or a good three duels, as the case may be—could always soothe him and make his problems seem more manageable.

Yugi sat down in the lounge chair beside him, also drinking from a bottle of water. "That was a great duel, Joey. You really have improved since high school."

"Not enough to beat you," Joey observed. "But I will, just you wait," he finished, cocking a finger at his friend.

"What are you talking about? You've beaten me before."

Joey narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, in really casual pickup games without duel disks or anything. Strap on a duel disk and you become… well, you know what you become. And I'm still not convinced you haven't let me win a few."

Yugi clutched his chest in mock pain. "You insult my honor as a duelist! If I hadn't just beaten you two times—"

"Three times," Joey corrected.

"Fine, three times—then I'd be forced to challenge you to a duel to defend my honor!"

"Totally unnecessary; you got enough honor for the both of us and you know it," Joey chuckled. "So hey, what time is it anyway?"

"Almost one o'clock," Yugi replied, consulting his watch.

Joey's eyes widened in surprise. "You've gotta be kidding me! We couldn'ta been up here that long! It was still light out when we started!"

"It was about nine o'clock," Yugi told him. "Remember the days are really long this far north. By the time we get to the glaciers it won't get dark until around ten or so."

"Trippy," Joey replied. He pulled his jacket tighter around him. "It's cold out here, too. I hadn't noticed when we were dueling."

"Yeah, I get really hot when I duel. The cold feels good right now." Yugi looked at his friend. "You feeling better now?"

Joey cocked his head back and forth. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks, pal, dueling was definitely the ticket."

"I'm really sorry about… you know," Yugi said awkwardly. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, not really. Not much to say, is there?" He sighed. "That's not the only thing that's bugging me, though, to be honest."

"No? What else?"

"You know that fancy job offer Pegasus has for the top four duelists?"

"Yeah," Yugi answered. "I'm still trying to figure out his angle on that one."

"I don't know if I particularly care if he has an angle. You know Yuge, I'm not a smart guy. I don't have a lot going for me, but _this, _dueling, this I can do. I'm actually _good _at it."

"Well, I wouldn't say you don't have a lot going for you, but yeah, you are good at dueling," Yugi agreed. "You've come a long way since Grandpa started training you."

"Yeah, I was a dumb schmuck who didn't know a trap from a spell card," Joey grinned. "But anyway, I really liked the sound of that job offer. Can you see me, dueling for a _living?_ Living in some fancy penthouse, riding in fancy cars. Where else would a guy like me get a chance like that?"

Yugi frowned. "I think you're selling yourself short. You're more than just a good duelist, Joey. But anyway, what difference does it make? I think you totally have a shot at the top four and one of those jobs if that's what you really want."

"Oh, I know," Joey replied. "But even if I make it, I have to turn it down."

Yugi looked at him in surprise. "Why?"

"Serenity." Joey looked out across the deck into the cold night sky. "I read up on the pay and the perks and all that, and, well, it's high on perks but low on pay. I'd be living the good life, but I wouldn't be making enough cash to pay for Serenity's tuition, especially since she wouldn't get the university employee rate if I quit my job at the student union to come to San Francisco."

"That doesn't make sense, Joey. You're saying you'd make _less _money working for Pegasus than Grandpa?"

"If you include the money and the tuition cut from the university job and take away the penthouse and other stuff from Pegasus's thing, then yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

"Are you sure there isn't some other way? She could get a loan or a scholarship or something, couldn't she?"

Joey shrugged. "Maybe. But..." Joey hesitated. He didn't like to talk about his family situation, but Yugi was his best friend. Grinding his teeth, he admitted, "The truth is, the money is just a part of it. I knew before I even started looking into it that it was a pipe dream as long as she wants to go to school in Domino. There's no way I could leave her alone in that city. Not as long as _he_ lives there."

Yugi looked confused a moment, then his eyes lit up with understanding. "Your dad?"

"Yeah. Things between my parents really fell apart after she was born so he likes to think she's to blame for him being such a pathetic loser. I can just see him running into her on his way home from the bar." Joey shuddered. "Ma had a cow when Serenity said she wanted to go to school in Domino and I wasn't crazy about it myself except for how nice it would be to be together with her again, but I figured as long as I was there, she'd be okay. He's mostly stayed away from me since I've moved into your grandpa's. Hell, if he doesn't have to feed me, more money for booze, right? And I don't think he even knows Serenity's in Domino, but I ain't taking no chances." He looked at his friend. "I gotta tell you, Yuge, you'll never know how grateful I am to Gramps. First taking me in, and now Serenity? I would be really nervous, her living in the dorms, even if we could afford it."

Yugi looked a little stricken. "Joey, I had no idea it was that bad."

Uncomfortable with Yugi's concern, Joey tried to brush it off with a wave of his hand. "Nah, don't worry about it. You know me, I'm just overprotective when it comes to Serenity."

Yugi nodded but didn't look entirely convinced.

"Anyway, between the money and my dad, I can't leave Domino while Serenity's in school, so the Industrial Illusions gig is out for me."

"That really stinks, Joey. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too." He took in a deep breath. "Oh well, I like working for Gramps. I owe it to him after all he's done for me."

"That's not true, Joey. Grandpa invited you to live there for _himself, _not you. He adores you. Just don't tell him I told you," Yugi winked.

Joey grinned. "Your secret's safe with me. Oh and speaking of, don't tell Serenity, okay? She'd flip out if she knew I was giving up something I wanted to do for her, and it may not seem like it, but that girl can be scary when she's pissed."

"Okay, Joey. I won't say anything to her."

"Thanks."

They were silent a moment, enjoying the cold air and the thousands of stars that were clustered in the clear sky. After a moment, Joey noticed Yugi's expression lose some of its tranquility and grow troubled. It was only then that he remembered his friend had looked pretty miserable almost every time they'd seen each other today. He gave himself a mental kick for being absorbed in his own problems and not bothering to ask Yugi what was going on with him. Actually, Joey had a pretty good guess.

"So Yuge," he said, his voice carefully nonchalant, "what's the deal with you and Téa?"

Yugi's face, already pink from the cold air, turned deep red. "What? What about me and Téa?"

_Bingo._ _Time to kick this thing in the right direction._ "Oh come _on,_ Yugi, I'm your best friend. I've kept my mouth shut for _five years_, but I could die of old age waiting for you to make a move. I know you like her, _you _know you like her, everyone in the known universe except maybe Téa herself knows you like her, so just _do _something about it already."

He'd expected Yugi to react with more denials or get embarrassed or flustered, but although his cheeks did continue to burn bright red, his expression grew even more miserable. "Joey, be honest with me. Is she seeing someone?"

Joey almost fell out of his chair. "What? No! She isn't seeing anyone, what on _earth _would give you that idea?"

"There's no one in New York? She didn't meet someone the last couple of months or get back together with that one guy she was seeing just before I left Cairo? I really need to know the truth."

"What, I'm gonna _lie _to you? I'm telling you, she's not seeing anyone."

"Maybe she didn't tell you guys either?"

Joey thought of all the e-mails from Téa just before the trip asking if he'd heard from Yugi. She'd been practically obsessed. The idea that she could be dating someone else, seriously and without telling any of them, was completely incongruous with her behavior over the past couple weeks. Hell, it didn't fit with her behavior over the past few _months_, ever since Yugi had been out of touch. "Yuge, what is this about? 'Cause I'm pretty sure she'd tell us if she was dating someone. She's never kept it secret before."

Yugi drew up his knees and rested his chin on them, his arms wrapped around his legs. "Then it must be me. But I don't get it." He looked at Joey, his eyes sad. "What could I possibly have done that would make it so awful for her if I moved to New York?"

Joey's jaw dropped. "The who and the what now?" He shook his head to try and make sense of that. "Hold on there and back up a step. Who's moving where?"

Yugi shook his head with a rueful smile. "Sorry, guess I skipped that part. Long story short, Egypt was bad the last six months. Really bad. We were all miserable, and not just because we were out of touch so long, so I'm not going back to Cairo for my master's. Professor Hawkins thinks I should study in America at one of two universities he's worked with, UC Berkeley or Columbia. Berkeley's in the San Francisco area and Columbia's in New York."

"And you're going to the one in New York?"

"I haven't decided yet, although judging by Téa's reaction, I should stay far, far away from New York. She completely flipped out when I told her last night."

And suddenly the light came on in Joey's head. "Wait a second. You told her last night that you might be going to school in New York?"

"Didn't I just say that?"

"Oh _man,"_ Joey whistled. "Now I get it. She must've had _kittens _when you told her. I'm surprised she didn't spontaneously combust and set the whole ship on fire."

Yugi growled in frustration. "Okay, now exactly _what _is so horrible about my being in the same city as Téa?" he shouted. "She acted like I'm stalking her or something! We're supposed to be friends! If that's all she wants, fine, but does that make it the worst thing in the world to be in the same city with me?"

Joey cocked his head. "She didn't tell you?

"She didn't tell me _anything," _Yugi seethed. "That's the whole problem!"

"Oh _man, _you two _totally _need to talk."

"I'VE BEEN TRYING BUT SHE'S BEEN AVOIDING ME ALL DAY!" Yugi ranted. "I want to know what I did, why is she mad at me?"

"Whoa, calm down buddy," Joey placated, his hands up. "I really doubt she's mad at you, okay? If I know Téa, she's mad at _herself_. You just got caught in the fallout."

"You are making _no sense! _Why would she be mad at herself just because I said I might be coming to New York?"

"Because in August she's moving back to Domino."

Yugi's mouth hung slack for a moment. "She's what?"

"She's moving back to Japan. She's leaving when her contract is up in August."

Now it was Yugi's turn to shake his head in bewilderment. "Okay, now I'm _really _confused. She wants to live in America and she wants to dance. Moving back to Domino kinda seems contrary to those two goals, don't you think?"

"You know she's been saying for months that she's not totally happy dancing," Joey said, "even before you left Cairo she was saying that. She says it's not fun anymore now that it's her job, and she wants to do something more with her life, so she's quitting to go back to school. And it's totally your fault, you realize."

"Okay, I'm the one who's just hearing about this for the first time right this second. How is it _my _fault?"

Joey smiled. "Yuge, you have know idea how knowing you has changed all our lives. The things we did in high school… who gets to do the things we've done? Who gets to play a game for more than just a prize but for stuff that really matters, like helping people and saving their lives and their souls?" He shook his head. "After all we've done, it's hard just living regular lives. We made a _difference, _Yuge, and nothing we've done since graduation has been like that. Well, Tristan, maybe, being an MP and all. But me and Téa?" He shrugged. "I don't know. Our old dreams just don't seem as important as they used to. I think she's just looking for some way to make a difference."

Yugi looked stunned. "Joey, how can you say you don't make a difference? You're putting your sister through college, and giving up something you really want for yourself to do it. That is nothing short of heroic."

Joey rolled his eyes. "Give me a break."

"I'm serious! And Téa… you don't think her dancing makes a difference? People think entertainment is just fluff, but it isn't. It lifts your spirit and makes you soar. You've seen her dance. Tell me it doesn't _matter."_

"I'm not disagreeing with you there, but the point is, it isn't what _she_ wants to do anymore. She wants to go back to school. She's starting at Domino University in October. I think she was talking about maybe teaching or something."

Yugi thought about this a moment. "You know, I can see that. She'd be an awesome teacher. But still, she could do all that in America. Why is she suddenly moving back to Japan?"

Joey sighed. "Well, she says it's too expensive in New York and that she's better off living at home to save money, stuff like that. But if you wanna know the truth, I think she's just lonely. She misses the gang and if she can't have us all back together again, at least she can be with me and Serenity in Japan."

Yugi considered this as well. "Okay, fine. She wants to quit dancing and go back to Japan to be with you and Serenity. What does any of this have to do with me maybe going to New York? She'd still be going to school and she'd still be with you guys. Why did she freak out then?"

Joey slapped his forehead. "Yugi, you are my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way, but you have got to be the dumbest guy on the face of the planet."

"Well, how could I possibly take that the wrong way?" Yugi grumbled.

"I mean it. How can a guy who can see a competitor's Duel Monster strategy fifteen moves before it happens not see what is obvious right in front of his face?"

"Then would you care to explain it to me?"

Joey wagged his head like a teacher frustrated with a particularly dull student. "You don't seriously think Serenity and I were her first choice, do you?"

"What are you saying?"

"Come _on,"_ Joey groaned, "you can't honestly have no idea that she's got a thing for you!"

For a moment, this news seemed to elate him, but then he shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Before, maybe, I guess, but I think that might've just been a crush she got over. And everything was all confused then. Maybe it wasn't even really about me at all, but about _him_." He looked at his lap, his face downcast. "Anyway, it's been a long time and she's dated other people and everything."

"Oh yeah, like three other people and the longest one lasted, what, a month at most?" Joey snorted. "Yuge, I'm telling you, ever since you left on that dig, she's been… different. Almost, I don't know, lost without you. When we were all back in Domino at Christmas and New Year's—me, her, and Tristan, and Serenity, too—it was obvious how much she missed you. I mean, we _all_ missed you—it just didn't feel right, the three of us together without you—but she wasn't missing you like a friend. She was so _sad._ I thought she was gonna cry when she came over to your grandpa's place and saw all _my_ stuff in your old room. And then, for the last few weeks leading up to this trip, all any of us heard from her was 'Has anyone heard from _Yugi? _ When is _Yugi _getting back to Cairo? Is _Yugi _still coming to San Francisco? Can you just check your e-mail one thousand more times to see if you got anything from _Yugi?' _I swear, if she had sent one more e-mail asking about you, I was going to reach through the internet and strangle her with my bare hands. Believe me when I say, Yuge, she's got it _bad _for you.

"And I do mean _you," _he added, putting his hand on Yugi's shoulder. "I don't think she's confused about who you are, okay? If anything, she's got a better handle on it than anyone. And if all that weren't reason enough for her to freak over finding out you'd be in New York after she leaves, I think she's been having second thoughts about leaving America, especially since getting to San Francisco, which she doesn't hate like she does New York. But it's too late to renew her visas and she already registered for school in Domino and everything, so she's kind of stuck. Then you come along and tell her basically that she could have had it all if only she'd stayed. Yeah, I'm thinking that freaked her out pretty much."

Yugi chewed on this for a while. "I need to talk to her."

"You _think?"_

"Okay, I get it, it's long overdue."

"You _think?" _Joey repeated.

"You made your point!"

Joey stretched and got up from the lounge chair. "Unfortunately, it's almost one thirty in the morning, so it'll probably have to wait until tomorrow. But promise me you'll talk to her tomorrow."

"I'm not the one who's been avoiding _her_," Yugi complained, getting up as well.

"I think she'll talk to you. She probably just needed a day to cool down. You know how she gets." He yawned. "Okay then, let's get some sleep."

Yugi exhaled slowly, a cloud of breath visible in the cold night air. "No, you go ahead. I'm not really tired. I think I'm gonna walk around a bit and think."

"Okay," Joey said. "Just don't stay up so late you oversleep tomorrow and let her get off the ship before you wake up."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "It'd be just my luck."

Joey clapped his friend on the shoulders. "It'll all work out when you talk to her, you'll see."

"I hope you're right. Thanks Joey."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

Giving Yugi one last squeeze on his shoulders, Joey left him on the deck and headed down toward their suite. It was dark in their room and Duke and Tristan were both already asleep. Tristan was snoring and Duke was muttering something in his sleep—_not _about Serenity, thankfully. As quietly as he could, Joey took off his duel disk and left it on the nightstand, stripped down to his shorts and t-shirt, and got into the bed he and Yugi were sharing.

Joey rolled over and tried to sleep, but Mai immediately came to the forefront of his thoughts. After three duels and a long talk about someone else's girl troubles, he thought he'd managed to put her out of his mind, at least temporarily, but he couldn't stop his brain from replaying the disastrous non-conversation with her after dinner. After only fifteen minutes, he gave up on sleep completely, got up, and went out into the suite's living room. He considered watching some of the shipboard satellite TV, but when he turned it on, he could only get static on all of the channels.

What he needed was to burn off some steam anyway. If he were at home, he'd probably go outside and shoot some hoops. Actually, playing a little basketball sounded really good right now, and the ship's gym did have a court.

He slipped back into the dark bedroom and put his jeans and socks back on. Back in the living room, he stuffed his feet into his sneakers, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. If basketball couldn't get Mai off his mind, at least he'd have a little exercise to show for it.

**

* * *

**

Mai sat down on a bench in the ship's weight room and wiped her neck with a towel, exhausted from her kickboxing workout. After her third straight night of the Shadow Realm nightmare, she wasn't getting much sleep, but at least she was getting a good workout.

And then there was that whole mess of having to go to that dinner and seeing Joey. Why wouldn't he leave her alone? Did he really need to tell her how awful she'd been? Couldn't he see she already knew it? And of course there was Gopher Evan, whom she had now used three times to escape Joey, and that wasn't even counting last night when Evan had shown up at her suite wondering why she hadn't had dinner with everyone else in the main dining hall. Three was her personal limit before she leveled with a guy and told him she wasn't interested. She'd intended to come clean with him after they'd gotten out of the Acropolis Club earlier, but he'd cut her off, telling her he was on duty all night and had to go. "You should just stay in your stateroom tonight and get some sleep," he'd advised her, with just enough parent-like concern to thoroughly annoy her. "You look like you could use it."

If only it were that simple. She really did need to go back there now and try again to get some sleep; it was just about two o'clock in the morning. Luckily, she so far hadn't had the dream more than once a night, so between that and her fatigue from going an hour one-on-one with a punching bag, she probably would be able to finally get some sleep. Besides, tomorrow was a day off from dueling so she could sleep in. It wasn't like she was all that excited about playing tourist in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Gathering her towel and the bottled sports drink she'd brought with her, she headed out of the weight room, past the gymnasium and toward the elevators. As she passed the gym, she heard the sounds of a basketball bouncing against the backboard and sneakers squeaking on the floor. Apparently someone besides her liked late-night workouts. Her eye caught the denim jacket draped on the bench outside the door, and she froze. She recognized that jacket. _Joey._

Immediately she chided herself for making a big deal of it. So Joey was in there playing basketball. He wouldn't even see her walk by, so who cared? Certainly she didn't. Except… she had to admit, she couldn't imagine Joey Wheeler playing basketball. He wasn't all that athletic. A scrappy fighter and an adequate duelist, yes, but basketball?

_Who cares? _she told herself firmly. But curiosity won out. Hating herself for it, she snuck up to the door of the gymnasium and peeked into the window.

It was definitely Joey and she was right; he really reeked at basketball. But there was something vulnerable about him as dribbled the ball and missed shot after shot. He looked like she felt, like someone trying to exorcise their demons. Or more accurately, _exercise_ their demons.

She found herself wondering what was on his mind that would bring him to the basketball court at two o'clock in the morning. Did it have anything to do with her? Was he that angry with her after so long or was it something else?

She shook her head. _Not your problem, Mai. _Whatever was going on in his head, it wasn't her concern. _He's the past. Move on._

Sighing, she did move on, past the gym and to the elevators. Hopefully this little almost-run-in wouldn't undo everything her workout had accomplished. She really needed the sleep tonight.


	10. Plunging In

**10. Plunging In**

Yugi walked aimlessly around the ship trying to put some order to his scattered thoughts. It was a little after two AM and the only other people he ran into were a few crew members headed for the bridge at a quick pace. Once he made his way down a couple levels away from the bridge, he found himself completely alone, which was exactly what he needed as he tried to make some sense of what he had just learned.

It was an immense relief to find out that not only was Téa probably not seeing anyone else, but that her negative reaction to his attending grad school in New York was not because she couldn't stand the thought of being in the same city with him. But what he didn't know was if Joey was right and the reverse was true. Could she really have been that upset because she _wanted _to be with him? Could she really still have feelings for him after two years?

Well, why not? It wasn't like the years had diminished _his _feelings, and he'd had them a lot longer than two years. Maybe Joey _was_ right. He hardly dared to hope, though. Something had always been in the way of the two of them ever being more than friends. The friendship itself and the inherent risks to that if things didn't work out, his own bashfulness and insecurity, Atem, Egypt and New York. And truthfully, all of those things still remained, at least if you substituted "somewhere in America" and "Domino" for "Egypt" and "New York."

And what about Atem? Even if Joey was right and she did have feelings for him, how much of that was really _him _and how much the Pharaoh? And did it even really matter? If she really wanted to be with him, would he start quibbling on the particulars of why?

No, he admitted, he probably wouldn't.

He had to tell her everything, he realized. No more hiding, waiting to try and figure out how she felt about him first. All of this miscommunication, all of this awkwardness could be avoided if he just told her everything.

The prospect was terrifying, however. There was so much potential for a whole new kind of awkwardness, a much worse awkwardness, if she didn't feel the same way about him. Besides, it was in his nature to be passive, to wait for others to come to him. But hadn't she already done that two years ago? She'd told him the truth and he'd hedged, partly because everything was so confused, but mostly because he was afraid. Afraid it couldn't be real, that she'd realize that it was Atem that she really loved, not him, never him. Afraid that if he opened the walls he'd put around his heart that he'd never be able to close them again, that he would no longer have any way of protecting himself from the fact that he surely could never mean as much to her as she meant to him. But really, it was already too late for that anyway. She'd breached those walls two years before and from that moment there had been no going back, no more pretending to himself that he wasn't hopelessly in love with her. So if he couldn't go back and standing still clearly wasn't working, the only option left was to move forward. Whatever the risks.

Finding himself on the Promenade Deck where he and Téa had started to talk Saturday night before being interrupted by Joey, he walked over to the rail and leaned on it, looking out at the ocean. It was warmer down here than up on the top deck where he and Joey had been dueling, but it was a good deal colder than it had been that night when his tuxedo jacket had been enough to keep her warm. He closed his eyes, remembering how it felt to be with her that night, to be able to offer her that small bit of comfort. Remembering the feel of her hand on his. What had she said that had made him feel like he could walk on water? Oh yes, she'd said that he didn't need to measure up to Atem. That he'd always been a hero. He flushed a little at the memory.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

Yugi's heart almost stopped in his chest and he whirled around to find himself face to face with the girl in question as if he'd conjured her out of thin air just by thinking about her. She was sitting cross-legged on a large crate labeled PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICES, leaning back against the bulkhead well out of the wind. She looked small and a little lost inside a large camping jacket with the hood pulled up.

"Téa! I… I didn't see you there!" Yugi blushed, suddenly feeling naked, as if she could read his mind. It didn't help that she was looking a little embarrassed herself and also giving him a sort of crooked smile.

"Do you sleep with that thing or were you wandering the decks hoping to challenge some random passenger to a duel?"

"Huh? Oh, my duel disk," he said, realizing it was still on his left arm. "Joey and I were dueling up on the top deck. I just haven't bothered to take it off yet."

"Oh, so that's where you two went. I… I was looking for you after the show." She looked down, her face now hidden inside her hood.

"You were?" he asked, a feeling of elation flooding him. _She's not avoiding me anymore._

"Yeah," she said. She looked up again and slid over to her left so that she was sitting on one end of the crate and patted the empty space on her right. "Wanna have a seat?"

Yugi swallowed and nodded. _This is it,_ he realized with something close to panic. He'd thought he'd have until morning to work up the courage to tell her the truth, but now here she was. This was his opportunity and he had to take it, only he found his feet didn't seem to want to move. Finally they obeyed and he sat down beside her on the crate. His boots dangled above the floor and he suddenly was very self-conscious of his short height, so he pulled his knees up and rested his heels on top of the box. He took off his duel disk and set it on the deck beside him.

"Téa," he started at the exact same moment as she said "Yugi."

They both stopped and smiled sheepishly at each other. "I'm sorry, you go first," she said, pulling her hood back.

_She is so beautiful, _he thought, but managed to say, "No, that's okay, you go."

"I… I just wanted to say I'm sorry about rushing off on you last night. You must think I'm a total spaz, but there's a reason I reacted the way I did to you maybe going to grad school in New York."

"Joey told me you're moving back to Domino."

"Oh. Well, yeah." She looked down at her lap.

"Téa, why didn't you just tell me?"

"I tried," she said, looking back up at him again. "It's not like it was a big secret or anything. I just… when you said… I didn't know what to say," she stammered. She leaned her head back against the wall in frustration. "Even though you're my best friend, sometimes it's hard to say stuff to you. Things can be so _weird _with us sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "But hey, look on the bright side. As weird goes, this is pretty far toward the normal range for us. Not like Duel Monsters coming to life or people's souls getting sent to the Shadow Realm or anything."

She laughed. "We're only three days into the trip. Still plenty of time for the usual weirdness, too." She sat up suddenly and looked at him. "You know what we need? A blank slate. Let's totally start over again." She put out her hand as if she wanted to shake hands with him. "Hi, my name is Téa Gardner, originally from Domino, Japan, but I've been living in New York the past couple of years. Nice to meet you."

He eyed her skeptically.

"Oh come on, just play along," she prodded, presenting her hand again. "My name is Téa Gardner," she repeated. "And you are?"

Shaking his head in amusement, he took her hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm Yugi Mutou."

She widened her eyes and put her hand to her mouth in mock awe. _"The _Yugi Mutou?" she gushed. "The King of Games?"

"Shut up," he scowled.

"I've heard of you," she continued, ignoring his protests. "They say you're the guy to beat at this tournament. I'm not a duelist myself; I'm here with friends. Actually, I'm a dancer. I'm in the chorus of an off-Broadway show."

"I'll bet you're a fabulous dancer," he said earnestly.

She shrugged. "I'm all right. The thing is, I don't really want to be a dancer anymore. At least, not _just_ a dancer."

"Why not?"

"It's hard to explain. I love dancing. I always have and I always will. But something happened when I started doing it for a living. It stopped being fun and started being work, you know?"

"Mm hmm."

"And see… this is kind of a long story, but you know what they say about it being easy to talk to strangers," she winked at him. "Anyway, I have this group of friends from high school, and we did the most amazing things together. And when I say amazing, I don't just mean sort of cool, I mean amazing in the original sense of the word. We went to a private island together. We've been to California and to Egypt. We fought real live monsters and psychos who wanted to rule the world. Well, my friends did, anyway. I just sorta watched."

"That's not true," he protested, then remembering the game when she shot him a warning look, he amended, "I mean, I'm sure that's not true. I bet they couldn't have done it without you."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. But anyway, it really was the best three years of my life. Which I know is a totally lame thing to say because who wants to be the kind of person who peaks in high school? It makes me feel like some pathetic former cheerleader who wants to hang onto the glory days. But it's not really like that. It's just… we did stuff that was _important. _And suddenly dancing doesn't feel so important anymore. It doesn't feel like what I should be doing."

He took a breath, weighing his words. "I think anything you love can be important."

"I know, it's just… what I love, what I _really _love is being a part of something bigger than myself. And I'm not talking a Broadway musical. Something where I can make a difference in people's lives, even if my own contribution is small."

"Which it _isn't," _he insisted.

"Maybe. But anyway, I decided to quit dancing professionally and go back to school. I'm thinking of studying literature and history. I know, those don't sound like big things, not like my friend Serenity who's going to be a doctor. But I thought it might be cool to teach. I could teach dancing, too, I think, so it could still be a big part of my life. I think maybe I could make a difference in some kid's life that way."

"I think that's a really great idea, if that's what you want to do. I bet you'd make a brilliant teacher."

She flushed, pleased. "Thank you. But see, here's the thing. You know how I said those three years of high school were the best three years of my life? Well, when I started thinking about quitting dancing, instead of staying in New York to go to college there, I thought more and more about going back to Domino. It wasn't homesickness, really. I don't want to live in Japan. I really want to get my green card and stay in America permanently. But, see, it was my _friends. _We kind of went our separate ways after high school; I moved to New York, one of us went to school in Egypt, one of us went into the army, and one of us stayed back in Domino. So I told myself I couldn't afford going to school in New York and all sorts of things to convince myself it was really best to move back to Domino.

"But then yesterday," she continued, "I found out one of my other friends might be moving to New York and, well, it hit me really hard that I didn't want to leave New York, or at least I didn't want to leave America. And if the only thing that made me change my mind was whether or not a friend was going to be there, well, I guess I was making my decisions for all the wrong reasons. So that makes me exactly what I didn't want to be, that lame cheerleader who can't get past high school. So… I guess I freaked. I'm just so mad at myself for making life decisions based on what my _friends _are doing and because of that, I threw away a really good opportunity. I'm almost twenty years old. I should be beyond sorting my life around my friends."

She let out a puff of air, as if relieved that she had gotten it all of her chest. "So anyway, now my friend probably thinks something awful like I didn't want him around and that isn't true and I just hope he knows that."

Yugi nodded. "I'm sure he does," he assured her, relieved to hear from her own lips that she wasn't appalled at the thought of being around him. But he also couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she gave no indication that she specifically wanted to be _with_ him more than any of the others. Well, at least Joey had been half right, and _anything _was better than what he thought before.

"So," she said, slapping her knees with the palms of her hands, "that's my stupid little story. I told you I'm a spaz."

"No you're not"

"So how about you? What do you do besides being the King of Games?"

He rolled his eyes at the title. "Well, I just got my BA in Egyptology and I'm going to start working on my master's."

"How interesting," she said enthusiastically. "So where are you gonna do your master's?"

He tilted his head back and looked at the underside of the deck above them. "Well that's the question, isn't it? I have two schools I'm looking at right now, UC Berkeley and Columbia."

"Which one do you like best?"

"I don't know. It's kind of a long story. Not all that different from yours, actually."

She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands. "I've got time."

He took a deep breath. "Okay. So I have this best friend—"

"Only one?"

"No," he amended, "you're right. I have three best friends. They are the most awesome friends anyone could have. But I was thinking of one of them in particular. She's my oldest friend, my _only_ friend for a long time, actually. You know, before all this stupid 'King of Games' stuff, I was kinda shy and didn't make friends very easily," he said as if admitting a dark secret.

She reacted with mock astonishment. "No!"

He chuckled. "Yeah, totally shocking, I know. So this girl, she was my friend when no one else was. And then we became friends with these other two guys and then, well, my life got really _weird. _Not high school weird, but _really _weird. And for a long time, I didn't know who I was. In some ways, I still don't. But she always did. She was always there, like… like my touchstone. She always kept me from losing myself, kept me _true _to myself. And I don't know if she knows how much that means to me. I don't think I ever thanked her for that."

She looked at him, her eyes solemn. "I bet she knows," she said softly.

He took a breath, considering what to say next. He remembered two years ago in Téa's bedroom, how she had rushed through telling him how she'd felt, as if it were something she had to forcibly expel from her gut. It hit him then for the first time what a huge risk she'd taken to be honest with him. She didn't know how he'd felt about her, didn't know how he'd react, thought it might end their friendship. But she'd done it because it was the _truth._ How could he give her any less and still call himself her friend?

He looked away from her out into the dark sea; it was easier if he wasn't looking at her. Lowering his legs so that they hung over the side of the crate, his boots swinging a few inches above the deck, he leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs and took another deep breath before finally plunging in. "So then one day a couple of years ago, she tells me…" He faltered, his courage failing for a moment, then tried again. "She tells me she has feelings for me. You know, as more than a friend."

"Yugi, don't—" she said, a note of panic in her voice. He turned to look at her now and she did seem frightened, sitting bolt upright, but he put up his hand to stop her.

"No, Téa, we have to talk about this because not talking about it isn't working. It's making things awkward and uncomfortable and we should _never _be awkward and uncomfortable with each other. Our friendship means too much to me for that. So let's stop pretending that conversation never happened and let's _talk _about it."

She nodded, but she still looked fearful, and he couldn't stand to see her afraid. As he had no idea if his next words would make it better or worse for her, he looked away again, seeking refuge in the game she'd started. She was just a stranger, someone with no vested interest in his words. Someone he couldn't hurt and who couldn't hurt him.

"To say I was shocked is an understatement," he forced himself to continue. "I _never _suspected. In fact, I was _sure_ she liked someone else, someone braver than me, stronger than me, more outgoing. Someone who was everything I'm not."

"Oh, Yugi," she whispered, her voice wavering as if she were near tears. He held his hand up again to keep her from saying more, but wouldn't—couldn't—look at her.

"I would have bet everything I owned, _everything, _that this girl would never think of me that way, and when I say that, I say that as a gamer, a gambler who never takes a bet I'm not pretty sure I can win. So when she said that she liked me… that way… everything changed. But everything was a mess in my life and she was going to New York and I was going to Egypt and so I never even answered her, I never told her what I thought of _her _because she said she didn't want me to, and I hid behind that. I just wanted things to be like they were, I wanted to always be her friend.

"And for a while it seemed like everything could be the same," he went on. "We e-mailed and IM'ed and sent text messages and chatted online every day. Everything was cool and I was really glad. She made new friends in New York. She dated a few guys out there. Maybe it was all just a dumb high school crush and she got over it. Maybe she didn't. Maybe it was… maybe it was never really about me at all. I don't really know because we never talked about it again. But I realize now that I haven't pulled my weight in this friendship. She took a risk that day to tell me the truth, and I can't claim to be her friend and not be honest with her, too."

He sighed, feeling a little ashamed. "Actually, I've been worse than that. I've treated our friendship like a _game. _Like a _strategy._ Play one card at a time, but never show your whole hand. Instead, I thought I could figure out what was in _her _hand. If it was just a dumb thing she's over, play it one way. If she still… Well, I don't know, but it doesn't really matter because our friendship isn't a _game. _It's one of the most important things in my life and it's time I started treating it that way. In the end, it doesn't matter whether I'm going to school in New York or San Francisco or Cairo or if she's going to live in New York or Japan. It doesn't matter if she really likes me or if it was… something else. All that matters is that I tell her the _truth _and the truth is I can't stop thinking about her."

She sucked in a sharp breath at this and now he had to look at her. She was staring at him, her eyes wide and rimmed with tears. He still couldn't tell whether it was because she just wanted to be friends and this was uncomfortable or because she had feelings for him too, but found that at the moment it really _didn't_ matter. The only thing that mattered was the truth.

"I've _always _been thinking about her," he said, sitting up and looking into her eyes but still talking about her in the third person. "I've been thinking about her since, I don't know, since I was old enough to think about girls, I guess." He turned his face back towards the sea again and closed his eyes. "I tried to pretend I didn't think of her that way because I was so sure she would never think of _me_ that way and then when she said she did it was still too scary, too hard to believe it could be true, so I hid behind all the excuses: Egypt and New York and the confusion in my life. I just didn't want to screw up our friendship. I _still _don't want to screw up our friendship, but it really isn't much of a friendship if I can't even be honest with her."

He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands folded in his lap. "And really, I'm not sure I've been all that great a friend anyway. She's always been so supportive of me and my stuff, always putting aside what's important to her to do stuff like come to tournaments with me, but I haven't once taken the time to really see her in her world, to share what's important to _her, _and I feel really bad about that. She means everything to me. Everything. Even if I haven't done a good job of showing it. And now… now I wanna be a part of what's important to _her _for a change. If that's not dancing anymore, then whatever it is, I wanna be a part of it."

He looked at her one more time. Abandoning the pretense that she was a stranger, he spoke directly to her. "Téa, that's the real reason I wanted to go to grad school in New York. I want to be with you."

"Really?" she squeaked, a tear trickling down her face.

"Really," he admitted. "Don't you know? That's all I've _ever _wanted. I… I just hope that doesn't freak you out or anything because more than anything I don't want to screw up our friendship."

Their eyes locked for what seemed like a thousand years. Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, she leaned closer to him. Without thinking, without even realizing he was doing it, he leaned towards her as well, his heart pounding so hard he was sure it must be visible through his jacket.

"Somehow," she said, her voice almost a whisper as she came so close to him he could feel her breath on his face, "I don't think it's going to be a problem."

Their lips met, and every nerve ending in his body came alive. It was tentative at first as the two of them explored this completely new and mind-blowing territory. Her hand snaked up to his face, her touch electric sparks on his skin. She tasted like peaches but, incongruously, smelled woodsy, like she'd been at a campfire. _Her camping jacket_, he thought randomly before all thoughts flew from his head as she pulled him closer to her and their kiss intensified until he was drowning in it. Supporting his weight on his left hand, he pressed as close to her as he could, his right hand finding its way to her shoulder, her neck, her hair.

It seemed to last forever, and when they finally did part, he pulled back only far enough to see her eyes, which met his with a look of desire that ran a thrill through him. Could that look really be directed at _him? _

"Wow," he gasped, his breathing ragged and shallow, as was hers.

"Yeah," she murmured in return.

She hesitantly reached for his face again and brushed aside a lock of blond hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. He half closed his eyes, but then noticed that her hand was trembling. Opening his eyes again, he looked at her with concern.

"You're shaking. Are you cold?"

Her eyebrows went up in amusement. "Cold? No, definitely not cold," she said softly, her voice tremulous as well. "I just can't believe…" she continued tracing a line down his face with the back of her finger. "I've been looking forward to this trip ever since we planned it. I wanted to tell you… I wanted to find out if you…" She kept fumbling for words. "But when we got here, I got too scared. I thought you were doing fine without me."

He felt unreal. How could he be fine without her? "I've been miserable without you," he told her. Her finger brushed lightly across his lips and he shivered and closed his eyes again.

"I've been miserable without you, too," she whispered.

"So what now?" he whispered back.

"I…" she started, breathless. "More, actually, would be nice."

They kissed again, softer this time, hundreds of little kisses causing hundreds of explosions inside him. He had never known anything like this, never felt so _much._

"Is this really happening?" she asked between kisses.

"I sure hope so," he breathed. "I love you, Téa."

She jerked back with a sharp gasp. "What did you say?"

It was only then that he realized what he'd said; the words had poured out of him of their own accord without any thought or plan on his part. He felt a brief shock of blind panic; had he gone too far? But it was just for an instant and then he realized it didn't matter. It was the truth. He loved her. He always had.

He opened his mouth to say it again, when the ship abruptly gave a violent lurch and what sounded like a loud thunderclap rang out, disorienting because it came from beneath them rather than above. Téa toppled backwards off the crate to land in a heap on the deck and Yugi fell forward onto the crate, sprawled on his stomach in the space she had just vacated.

"Téa!" he called out in alarm. "Are you all right?"

She looked up at him and groaned in frustration. "Of _course,"_ she muttered more to herself than to him, "three days on a ship with Yugi Mutou. Something strange was _bound _to happen!"

"Hey, how is this _my _fault?" he protested, but before she could answer, there was another loud boom from below and the ship gave another shudder, this time rolling sideways, pitching Yugi off the crate and both of them toward the rail, along with Yugi's duel disk, which had been lying forgotten beside them. They skidded to a stop before reaching the rail, but the duel disk clattered past them. Yugi rolled over and stretched out with his arm, snatching it up before it flew overboard. Then he jumped to his feet and reached out to help Téa up as well.

"Okay, this can't be good," Téa said.

"We need to get inside," Yugi said as he slipped the duel disk onto his arm so he wouldn't lose it again.

He took her hand and they ran through a doorway into an interior corridor. Automatically they made their way back towards their suite.

The ship started coming alive with activity as ship's crew started rushing about the hallways. "Please go back to your cabin," one purser told them gruffly as he rushed past. Yugi tried to make sense of what had happened by listening to their scattered conversations.

"It came from the engines," one crewmember was saying to another as they jogged by.

"…mostly contained in the engine areas, but the Holiday Deck is pretty well trashed…" they heard over another crewmember's radio. And most alarming of all: "…taking on water…"

Téa and Yugi exchanged worried glances. "What just happened? Do you think we'll have to evacuate the ship?"

"I don't know. They'll ring that alarm and send us to our muster rooms like in the drill. Let's just get back to the suite and check on the others."

They started to head toward the elevators, but Yugi remembered they were supposed to use the stairs during emergencies. Téa nodded in agreement and they went back outside to the nearest staircase to climb up the four flights of stairs to their deck. Just as they mounted the last flight between the Baja and Aloha Decks, Kaiba appeared on the landing above with Mokuba close behind. They were both wearing expensive fleece-lined coats and had their duel disks strapped to their left arms.

"Yugi!" Kaiba called out when he spotted them. "Do you know what's going on?"

"There was some kind of explosion down below, in the engines, I think," Yugi told him as they reached the landing. "We might be taking on water."

Kaiba's mouth formed a thin, grim line. "Then the rats will be deserting the ship. Especially the one-eyed rat."

"Pegasus?" Yugi asked. "You don't think he had anything to do with this, do you?"

"Who else?" Kaiba replied. "He gets us all together on this little trip and then the ship just 'accidentally' blows up? I don't think so. If he's not behind it himself, he knows who is. Time to have a little one-on-one with the rodent."

Yugi considered a moment. Kaiba did have a point. Whether or not Pegasus was actually responsible for whatever had happened, there was no doubt he'd have a good idea what was going on. Whatever he was up to when he'd decided to host this tournament, the explosions had to be related.

"I'm going with—" Yugi started to say, but was drowned out when the ship's alarm siren began blaring. He looked at Téa, their fears confirmed.

Finally it stopped and an announcement came over the public address system: "All passengers are to immediately proceed to your assigned muster station. This is not a drill. Repeat, all passengers proceed to your assigned muster stations. Crew members please report to emergency posts."

"The ship is sinking," Téa breathed.

"Mokuba, go to our muster station," Kaiba ordered.

"Wait a second, Seto, you've gotta come too," Mokuba countered.

"No. I'm going to find out exactly what's going on. GO!" he shouted when Mokuba didn't move.

"I'm going with you," Yugi told Kaiba.

"Yugi—" Téa began to protest, but he cut her off.

"Téa, I need you to look out for Rebecca for me. Make sure she's safe."

He could tell by her expression she wasn't thrilled about being separated. He wasn't, either, but he needed to find out if Pegasus knew anything and he also needed someone to watch out for Rebecca. Téa realized this, too, and she nodded. "Just be careful, okay? Please. I…." She looked like she wanted to say more, but she stopped.

"We'll be fine," he assured her. "You be careful, too, okay?" She nodded, biting her lower lip.

"Take Mokuba with you," Kaiba told her.

Yugi saw a flash of irritation in her eyes at what was more an order than a request, but she let it pass. "Come on Mokuba," she agreed, putting a hand on his shoulders. "Let's go back in and find Rebecca and then get downstairs to the Siren Lounge."

"No, I'm going with my brother," Mokuba argued.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba barked. "Just go with Téa!" He and Yugi headed up toward the Sun Deck where the Penthouse Suite was located. Mokuba started after him, but Téa grabbed his arm to stop him.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Téa!" he protested.

"Then stop acting like one. This is between them and Pegasus!"

"Mokuba, GO!" Kaiba shouted down at his brother. With a very petulant look, he finally followed Téa inside toward their suites.

The ship was starting to bustle with activity as passengers came out of their cabins in life jackets. Most had taken the time to dress, but a few were still in pajamas. The majority of them, Yugi noticed, had their duel disks strapped to their arms. Yugi shook his head, wondering at the priorities of a group of people, himself included, who when faced with disaster would still reach first for their duel disks and decks. _We really take this game _way _too seriously,_ he thought.

They made it to the Sun Deck without further incident and found the Penthouse Suite easily. Kaiba pounded on the door, calling out "Open up Pegasus! We demand to know what's going on!"

The door opened enough for Pegasus' assistant, Croquet, to poke his head through. "We're in a state of emergency right now! I suggest you go to your muster stations, which is exactly what Mr. Pegasus will be doing."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of room on his lifeboat for two more," Kaiba replied, "seeing as how this ship isn't even half full."

"I'm sorry—" Croquet began, but then Pegasus pushed past him and came out the door wearing a long overcoat and a life preserver.

"Yugi-boy and Kaiba-boy, _quelle surprise,"_ he said in his typical singsong manner. But his expression was not typical; he looked flustered and on edge. Very unusual for a man who always maintained supreme control. "It's all right, Croquet, let them come with us."

"We're not going anywhere until we get some answers," Kaiba said. "What exactly is going on here?"

"It appears, Kaiba-boy, that the ship is sinking. I would have thought that obvious. I suggest we make our way down to my appointed muster station and get ourselves onto a lifeboat."

He pushed past Kaiba and headed toward the stairs they'd just come up.

"We shouldn't go that way," Yugi said. "The indoor staircase would be safer."

Pegasus stopped and did an about face and headed toward the staircase near the elevators, Croquet, Kaiba, and Yugi in his wake.

"I still want some answers," Kaiba said, his voice full of menace.

"Really, Kaiba-boy, surely you don't think I had anything to do with this disaster? Do you really think I'd plot to blow up a ship that I was on? I had no idea your opinion of my intelligence was so dismally low."

"I think you're capable of almost anything," Kaiba shot back. "And if you didn't do this, you know who did. You didn't invite me and Yugi to this little party of yours just to play Duel Monsters."

They reached the stairs and headed down into the crowd of fellow passengers also trying to make their way to the Promenade Deck. Keeping his voice low so that only Kaiba and Yugi could hear, he said, "I'm not surprised that someone would want to prevent this tournament from happening, no."

"But _why? _It's just a _game." _Yugi protested.

"Come now, Yugi-boy, when has Duel Monsters _ever _been just a game?" Pegasus oozed.

"You mean you invited all these _innocent _people here knowing that someone would want to sabotage the tournament?" Yugi asked angrily.

"_Et tu, _Yugi-boy?" Pegasus asked in mock hurt. "Again I ask you, if I had known this would happen, would I have come on the ship myself?"

"But you just said you're not surprised," Yugi pressed.

"Not completely, no," Pegasus admitted. "I didn't think he'd figure out the importance of this tournament—"

"Wait," Yugi interrupted, "he who?"

"I don't actually know _who. _The whole story is too complicated to explain in the middle of a crisis, Yugi-boy. But as I was saying, I didn't think _whoever did this _would figure out the importance of the tournament until he showed his hand by trying to prevent the two of you from coming. By then it was too late to change plans and I didn't think he would be prepared to do anything about it yet regardless. It was… an unfortunate miscalculation on my part."

"A _miscalculation?_" Kaiba asked incredulously. "When are you going to stop playing with people's lives, Pegasus?"

"Your concern for your fellow competitors is truly touching," Pegasus said dryly. "You've always been such a deeply _caring _and _altruistic _young man, Kaiba-boy."

"My _brother _is on this ship!" Kaiba shot back angrily.

"Kaiba, stop, this is getting us nowhere," Yugi said. "Pegasus, stop playing games and just tell what you know!"

"All I know is, whoever did this, it's someone with a lot of power. Enough business influence to, say, create a labor dispute at Kaiba Corp…"

"What? Are you saying whoever bombed this ship is the one responsible for that dispute?"

"It almost kept you from coming, didn't it?"

"_You!" _Kaiba cried. "You _were _involved in that!"

"Who do you think arranged for the mediator to wrap things up at the eleventh hour?"

"You snake, stay out of my business affairs!"

"Your business affairs are _my _business affairs," Pegasus reminded him, "or have you forgotten the licenses your company holds for images from _my _game. Anyway, it was in someone's best interest that you not be here, but it was in _my_ best interest that you come."

A thought occurred to Yugi. "You arranged for Rebecca and me to get our passports reissued, too, didn't you?"

Pegasus looked over his shoulder, a thin lips curling into a smile. "You do catch on fast, don't you, Yugi-boy? But the question you should be asking is, who stole them in the first place?"

"You think the same person stole our passports?"

"Like I said, he is very influential and he is _very _interested in keeping you from dueling."

"But why?"

They reached the Promenade Deck at that point and worked their way through the crowd toward the starboard side of the ballroom, where Pegasus's muster station was located. Mr. Goradon appeared in the crowd, looking quite anxious.

"Oh, Mr. Pegasus!" he gushed in obvious relief. "And Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Mutou! Thank goodness you're all safe! I can't believe this is happening!"

"Yes, yes, it's quite upsetting," Pegasus agreed placatingly.

"Come now, we must get to a lifeboat before the ship sinks!" He tried to bustle their group toward the ballroom where crewmembers were directing people where to go.

"Wait a minute, we're not through here, Pegasus," Kaiba objected.

Pegasus leaned very close to Yugi and Kaiba. "I'll tell you everything I know as soon as I can. And then when we get to wherever we end up, gather together all your little playmates staying with you in that suite and everyone who's been involved in a Shadow Game or been taken to the Shadow Realm, and yes, Kaiba-boy, that means your baby brother, too."

Yugi's eyes widened in surprise. "The Shadow Realm? What does this have to do with the Shadow Realm? We closed the Shadow Realm two and a half years ago when the Millennium Items were buried under the temple ruins!"

"Oh dear naïve little Yugi-boy, this has _everything _to do with the Shadow Realm," Pegasus clucked. "And I'm afraid that any door that has been closed can always be re-opened. _If _you find the right key."


	11. The Rescue

**11. The Rescue**

When Téa and Mokuba made their way into the hallway of the Aloha Deck, they found Duke, Tristan, Rebecca, and Serenity just emerging from main entrance of the suite, all of them dressed and wearing life preservers.

"Téa!" Tristan called out in relief as he spotted her. Then he looked around, frowning. "Where's Yugi and Joey?"

"Yugi and Kaiba went to find Pegasus," Téa said, then she frowned as well. "Wait, Joey's not with you?"

"No, he wasn't here when the alarm woke us."

"He's not with you?" Serenity asked Téa in dread. "You don't know where he is?"

Téa shook her head. "Yugi said he was dueling with Joey earlier, but I never saw him myself. I thought he was asleep."

"Well, he must have come back after that and then left again, because his duel disk was on the nightstand," Tristan said, holding it up. "I grabbed it when we left the room."

"Oh no," Serenity moaned, "where can he be?"

"Let's just get down to the muster station," Téa said. "I'm sure he's headed there, too."

The hallways were starting to fill with people as passengers began making their way down the stairs to their assigned muster stations. When they made it four flights down and reached the Siren Lounge on the port side of the Promenade Deck, it was already starting to fill with people. There was a purser at the door with a clipboard checking names off the list as people came in. They stood in line and gave their names, then entered the lounge and began looking around for Joey.

"I don't see him," Serenity squeaked. "Where is he? Why isn't he here?"

Tristan's face hardened in determination. "I'll find him." He shoved the duel disk at Téa. "Hold this for him."

"Wait, Tristan, I'm going with you," Serenity said.

"No, you stay here with Duke and Téa," Tristan directed her in a tone that left no room for argument. "Téa, do you know where they were dueling? Maybe he forgot something and went back for it."

Téa tried to remember what Yugi had said. "I think he said they were on the top deck."

"Got it," he replied. "I'll check back at the suite, too. He might have gone back looking for Serenity. I'll be right back." He looked at Serenity. "Don't worry, I'll find him."

She only nodded as he turned and darted out, sneaking past the purser checking people in.

Téa put her hand on Serenity's shoulder to comfort her. "He probably found a late night buffet somewhere and is on his way," she soothed, but inside she felt anything but calm. First Yugi, then Joey, and now Tristan; all three of the people she loved most in the world somewhere else on a ship that was going down. _Please be okay. All of you, please be okay, _she silently prayed.

**

* * *

**

It was karma, Mai thought. It had to be bad karma. She'd flirted her way into skipping the muster drill before embarkation, so naturally the stupid ship had to _sink _to teach her a lesson. A whole half an hour into what might have otherwise been the best sleep she'd gotten since she'd been here. Why oh _why _did she come on this trip again?

Scowling, she made her way through the crowds of people trying to get to their muster stations, annoyed at how difficult it was to move with the bulky life preserver on top of her leather jacket, her backpack full of snack foods, and her duel disk on her left arm. At least she really did know where she was going and what to do and she was able to get to the Siren Lounge without too much difficulty. After giving the purser her name to check off his list, she looked around the room to get her bearings. Almost immediately she saw Téa, Serenity, Duke, Mokuba Kaiba, and that little blonde girl she remembered from the Orichalcos fiasco. _Naturally they'd be on my lifeboat, _she thought with a grimace, remembering belatedly that their suite was on her deck. But then she realized something wasn't right. Frowning, she looked around the room.

Forgetting her pride, she approached Téa. "Hey, aren't you missing a few people?"

Téa looked at her, startled and worried. "Mai! Oh, yeah, we are. Yugi and Kaiba are with Pegasus. Their purser just called our purser on the two-way radio to say they were keeping them at that muster station rather than have them try and get here."

"What about Joey and Tristan?"

"Oh Mai," Serenity jumped in, her words tumbling out in a rush, "Joey's missing! He wasn't in the room and we don't know where he is! Tristan went looking for him!"

"The gym," Mai told them, snapping her fingers. "Did Tristan look there? I saw Joey playing basketball in the gym about half an hour ago."

Téa blanched. "Isn't the gym on the Holiday Deck?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's—" she began, but then clamped her hand over her mouth when she saw Serenity looking at her.

"Téa, what is it?" Serenity begged. "If you know something, please tell me!"

"It's just," Téa started reluctantly, "Yugi and I overheard one of the crewmembers say one of the explosions was near the Holiday Deck—"

Serenity gasped, her face draining of color and Téa stopped abruptly. Mai's heart jumped up to her throat, but she forced herself to not panic. _He's okay, he has to be okay. _Seeing that Serenity was not doing well, she took her by the shoulders.

"Listen, kiddo, he's going to be okay, you hear me?" she told her, her voice completely steady.

Serenity nodded but she looked like she was in shock.

"Serenity, I need you to do me a favor," Mai said, her face close to Joey's sister's as she tried to get her to listen. She needed to give her something to do, something she could hold onto so she wouldn't go into shock. Mai pulled off her backpack and her duel disk and handed them to her. "I need you to hold these for me, okay? I'm going to go find Joey and Tristan and when we get back I'm gonna want my deck back, so you keep it safe for me, okay?"

Serenity nodded again, taking the duel disk and the backpack.

Mai leaned toward her and whispered conspiratorially, "And that backpack has food in it. Way better stuff than the lifeboat rations, so keep it to yourself, 'kay hon?"

"Okay Mai," she said, and Mai was relieved to see a little color return to the younger girl's face. She turned to go, but Duke stepped up.

"No, you stay, I'll go."

"No," Mai shook her head. "I know right where he was. You stay here with Serenity." She turned back to Joey's sister. "Sweetie, Joey's going to be okay. I _promise _you," she said. She squeezed Serenity's shoulders then turned and left, slipping behind the purser's back out of the lounge as he was busy checking in the last few passengers.

She headed straight down the deck outside the lounge toward the elevators and staircase at the stern of the ship, which led down to the gym three decks below. When she was still a ways away, she saw Tristan appear on the landing from upstairs.

"Tristan!" she called out. "I saw him in the gym earlier! Holiday Deck!"

If he still had any of the distrust in her he'd displayed the first night of the cruise, he didn't show it. Without questioning her, he spun on his heel and headed down the stairs. She ran after him.

She got about a flight and a half down when she heard voices. Tristan was arguing with someone, one of the crewmembers no doubt.

"But my friend is down there!" she heard him shout.

"I'm sorry sir," the crewmember responded, and Mai realized with a jolt of recognition that the voice belonged to her purser friend, Evan Haines. "There's no one down there. The gym closed at one o'clock."

Mai frowned. It had been just about two o'clock when she'd left and neither the gym nor weight room had been closed.

"Someone _saw _him there," Tristan argued. "Can we at least go check?"

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but we've already been down there. There was an explosion in the engine room not far from the gym. It's doubtful even if anyone _had _been down there that they would have survived."

Mai bit down on her lip and forced down the rising panic. _He's okay, he's okay, he's okay…_

"But I assure you, no one was down there. We've already checked," Evan was saying. Clearly he was not going to let Tristan get by or go check the gym himself and Mai was positive that's where they'd find Joey—_alive. _

_Sorry, Evan, _she thought with some annoyance, _but for this I'm afraid I'm going to have to break my own three-limit rule. _But how to handle this? She couldn't go the damsel-in-distress route since she'd already told him she used to work on a ship and knew how to handle emergencies. But there were certainly no shortage of people on a cruise ship who _didn't_ know how to handle emergencies….

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she ran down the last flight of stairs to the landing where Evan and Tristan were arguing and flung herself onto Evan's neck; an awkward proposition given her bulky life preserver. "Oh Evan, thank _goodness _you're here!" she gushed, using her momentum to pivot him so that his back was turned to Tristan and the stairs. Over his shoulder she shot a look at Tristan and cocked her head toward the stairs. Tristan gave her a short nod then slipped as quietly and quickly as he could down the stairs while she pulled out of the embrace with Evan to face him, keeping her hands firmly on his shoulders so that he was facing her and away from the stairs.

"Mai, what are you doing here? You should be at your muster station getting on a lifeboat!" He frowned. "I knew it was a mistake to let you skip the drill—"

"Oh no, I'm fine, but there's someone in trouble and I came looking for someone to help. Please, you have to help…" she let herself trail off because she couldn't get more specific than that.

"All right, just let me—" he stopped as he looked around. "Where'd he go?"

"Who? That guy you were talking to? I saw him go back upstairs," she said.

"You sure?"

"Yes, now come on, you have to _help,_" she pleaded, dragging him by the arm up the stairs.

She was counting on the fact that some passenger had to be panicking and in need of assistance and then she could slip away from Evan while he was helping someone else. However, when they got back to the Promenade Deck, she only belatedly remembered that this was not an average cruise where half the passengers were over eighty and could barely walk and another good chunk were families with small children. This cruise was full of young, able-bodied duelists, mostly in their teens and twenties, who could reasonably be expected to figure out how to get to a lifeboat. She began to worry that she wouldn't find anyone to distract Evan when like a gift from the gods, Rex Raptor appeared. He was running down the deck, screaming in blind panic, shoving people out of the way as he went.

"See!" Mai pointed. "I couldn't get him to calm down! He's going to get someone killed!" she shouted at Evan.

"You get back to your muster station; I'll take care of this," he told her, and then took off after Rex. Mai breathed a sigh of relief and immediately flung herself back down the stairs toward the gym.

Her relief vanished when she reached the landing half a flight up from the Holiday Deck and saw that the deck below was covered in deep, swirling black water.

"I think I've seen this movie," she grimaced as she went the rest of the way down stairs. She waded in, gasping as the knee-deep frigid water soaked through her boots. Ignoring the cold, she worked her way down the hall to the gym, and gasped again to find Tristan standing before a mass of debris that used to be the doors to the basketball court, shouting Joey's name. There was no answer.

"Oh my God… maybe he wasn't here after all," she breathed.

Tristan turned around and pulled something dark and soaking wet out of the water. "I found this," he said. It was Joey's jacket, she realized. "Besides, the ship is going down and he's not at Serenity's side personally escorting her onto a lifeboat?"

"Right," Mai gritted her teeth, "he's definitely here. Okay then. How do we get in there?"

"We need help," he said.

She shook her head. "We'd spend more time than we have arguing with more crewmembers."

"Good point." He looked around. "We need something for leverage. We've gotta pry those doors open."

Mai looked over at the weight room door, which had survived the blast better than the gymnasium. Sloshing her way in, she found one of the barbells and pulled the weights off of it. She brought it back out into the hall and handed it to Tristan. "Try this," she suggested.

He grabbed the barbell, but their bulky lifejackets made it difficult for them to work, so they quickly stripped them off and threw them aside. Tristan pressed the barbell into the space between the doors and he and Mai heaved together until it opened enough for them to squeeze through.

Inside the gym looked even worse than the outside. Tristan inhaled sharply.

"He's alive," Mai said decisively. "He's alive, and we'll find him. He's alive," she repeated, adopting it like a mantra.

"Damn straight," Tristan agreed, his jaw set. "Hey, and at least the lights haven't gone out. That's something."

"Right. Okay, when I saw him he was shooting at the hoop on this end of the court," she said, pointing to where a pile of debris lay below one of the baskets. "I'll look over here."

"I'll check the other side."

He waded through the icy water toward the far end of the gym while Mai poked through the debris nearer the door. "Joey?" she called out. "Come on, Joey, I know you're in here somewhere! Answer me!"

"Joey!" Tristan called out from the other end. "Hey bro, it's me, Tristan! Where are you?"

Mai clenched her teeth. The gym as so large and there was so much debris. _He's alive, we'll find him, he's alive, we'll find him…_

And then she saw it. A hand under water, coming out from under a mass of twisted metal against the wall. She sucked in her breath. "TRISTAN!" she screamed as she fell to her knees, freezing water splashing up to her waist. She followed the arm through the metal and there she could see him. He was unconscious, propped upright against the wall with his head out of the water and twisted hunks of metal around him like a tent. She grabbed his wrist and breathed a massive sigh of relief when she felt a pulse.

Tristan splashed to a halt beside her.

"There's a pulse, he's alive!" she cried out. _Thank you, thank you, thank you…_

"He's not under water?"

"No, it looks like he fell against the wall. His head is propped up above the water line."

Tristan exhaled loudly. "Okay. Let's get this pile off him!"

They worked together, clearing the space around his head. He was pretty scratched up with a long cut down the left side of his face, and his lips were a little blue from the cold, but she didn't notice anything scary like gaping wounds or limbs at a bad angle.

"Dude, you lead a charmed existence," Tristan said, obviously thinking the same thing.

Finally they could reach him. Mai sat next to him and shook his shoulders. "Joey, are you okay? Come on Joey, wake up."

"His leg's caught under the pole from the basketball hoop," Tristan said. "I can't move it."

"Joey wake up!" Mai shouted, and then splashed him with some of the brackish water. He sputtered and opened his eyes.

"Hey!"

"Joey!" she cried out, and Tristan temporarily gave up trying to free his leg and joined her at his side.

"Dude! Are you okay?"

"Tristan? _Mai?"_ Joey asked, dazed. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"We decided it would be really fun to do a dramatic re-creation of the _Titanic,_" Tristan deadpanned.

"There was some kind of explosion and everything just caved in…" Joey said, starting to piece it together, and then his eyes opened wide as he realized where he was and that he was reclining in water up to his chest. "The ship is _sinking?"_

"Yeah, so let's get you out of here. Your leg's trapped under that pole. Does it feel like it's broken?" Tristan asked.

Joey ignored the question. "Serenity!" he gasped.

"She's probably already getting on a lifeboat," Mai reassured him.

"_Probably?" _

"Relax, kiddo. Last I saw her she was in the muster station with Duke and Téa. They'll get her on that boat. Let's just focus on getting _us _on the boat, 'kay?"

Joey sighed in relief.

"Uh, little help here?" Tristan prompted.

"Right," Mai said, leaving Joey's side to help Tristan with the pole. It was wedged tight.

"We need that barbell," he said and then splashed off toward the door to get it.

"How you doing, Joey?" she asked, turning back to him. "Anything feel broken? You gonna be able to walk when we get this off of you?"

He closed his eyes as if checking in with all his various limbs. "My ankle doesn't feel great, but I don't think it's broken."

"You _do _lead a charmed existence."

His teeth started chattering. "It's _really _cold, though."

"We'll get you warmed up as soon as we get out of here. Just hang on."

"Mai, what are you—" he started, but Tristan returned with the barbell and Mai turned her attention to helping him work it under the pole.

It was hard in all the water finding a place where it would get purchase, but they finally found one and the two of them heaved, but the pole wouldn't budge. They tried again, grunting with the strain, when suddenly the lights went out.

"Well, that can't be good," Tristan remarked.

As if in confirmation, Mai heard a loud groaning sound from the ship around them, and then the water started moving faster, swirling around them.

"Yeah, definitely not good," Tristan said and they renewed their efforts.

"This is insane," Joey said, "you guys gotta get out of here."

"Don't be stupid," Mai snapped.

"I mean it," he said earnestly, but weakly. "This whole deck is gonna be underwater soon. You've gotta go!"

"Not gonna happen, dude, so unless you have something helpful to say, shut your yap," Tristan barked. "Come on Mai, _pull!"_

They heaved again. Nothing. Several more pulls. Nothing.

"Guys, this isn't gonna work," Joey said, his teeth chattering so loud they almost couldn't hear him over it.

"Like hell," Tristan growled. He dropped the barbell in frustration. "Okay, I think there's something underneath trapping it. I need to go down there and figure out what the problem is."

"Underwater. In the dark," Mai said skeptically.

"Got any better ideas?"

"Not really, no."

Tristan took in a huge breath then plunged down under the water, which was now up to Mai's thigh when she was standing. She waded back to Joey to make sure his head was still above water while she waited to see what Tristan found. He was still above the waterline, but not by much. It had reached his chin and the pole trapping his leg kept him from raising himself up any higher out of the water.

"So cold…" Joey said, and she was alarmed by how much weaker his voice sounded.

"No you don't, stay with me here Wheeler," she ordered.

Tristan came up for air. "I think there's something wedged under there. I'm pretty sure if I get it loose, we can move the pole."

"Do you need help?"

"No, just stay by Joey." He took another breath and slipped beneath the surface again.

Joey's teeth were still chattering so she moved closer to him and started rubbing his arms. It was pretty fruitless since he was still mostly under water, but it did seem to help some. "You know lifeboats nowadays are covered and heated. As soon as we get out of here we'll get you wrapped in a blanket and on one of those heated lifeboats. Just stay with me, okay?"

Tristan came up for air again. "Almost got it," he reported then went back under.

"Mai, why are you here?" Joey asked.

She closed her eyes, glad it was too dark for him to see her face. "Because I promised your sister you would be okay."

Joey sighed. "This isn't going to work, Mai. You and Tristan need to _go, _get off this ship."

"You want me to break my promise to Serenity? I don't think so."

He coughed and gave a weak laugh. "No, we can't have that."

"I'm not leaving without you, so just concentrate on getting your foot loose." _Whatever you think of me, Joey, I won't let anything happen to you. Never again._

Tristan came back up one last time. "I think I've got it," he said. "Let's try the lever again."

She went back to where Tristan was reinserting the lever under the pole. They heaved, and this time she felt it move. Not much, but it moved.

"I think it's working!" she told Tristan.

"One more time," he directed.

They heaved on the barbell and she felt the pole move again.

"Can you get your leg loose?" Tristan groaned at Joey.

"A little more," Joey grunted back, straining to pull his leg free.

Mai and Tristan pulled as hard as the could, and finally Joey said, "Got it, I'm free!"

They dropped the pole and waded back to him, one on each side of him, and hauled him up by the arms.

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I… okay, maybe not," he said when he wobbled.

"Why don't you let us be the designated drivers, 'kay hon?" Mai said as she ducked under Joey's left arm. Tristan did the same on his right and he was able to trudge through the water leaning heavily on the two of them. They made their way back to the door of the gym, but it wasn't open wide enough for all of them to get through side-by-side. Tristan squeezed through first while Joey leaned on Mai, and then he pulled Joey through, and finally Mai. Once they were out, they made their way with considerable difficulty down the hall through the now waist-high water. It was moving fast now, too, beating against them as they struggled toward the dim light coming down the stairwell. Their footing was treacherous and Mai slipped, falling headlong into the frigid, churning water, nearly pulling Joey and Tristan with her, but Tristan grabbed her arm and jerked her up again.

"Thanks," she panted, spitting briny water out of her mouth. She found her footing again and returned to her position under Joey's left arm.

Just then they heard voices above them. "Hello! Is anyone down there?"

"Down here!" she and Tristan called out in unison. They tried to pick up their pace, but Joey was getting more and more sluggish.

"Come on, bro, a little further," Tristan urged.

Two of the ship's crew appeared silhouetted on the stairs. "You Wheeler, Taylor, and Valentine?" one of them called out.

"That's us," Tristan confirmed. "You wanna give us a hand here?"

The one who had asked their names called back up the stairs "We found them!" while the other crewmember waded a few steps down into the water. Holding on to the rail, he leaned out and reached for them. "Grab my hand!" he called.

Tristan was closest and managed to grab the purser's hand. He pulled and Mai felt them all being dragged through the water toward the stairs. Finally her boot bumped against the bottom step. Wearily she climbed onto it, hauling Joey up between her and Tristan.

"You still with us, Joey?" she asked. "We're almost there."

"Yeah," he muttered sounding sluggish.

They finally made their way up the stairs and above the rising waterline. "Most of the boats have launched, but we've got one waiting for you."

"Serenity," Joey muttered.

"What?"

"His sister," Tristan explained. "He wants to make sure she's safe."

"All passengers but you three are accounted for and most of the boats have launched," the purser confirmed. Mai felt Joey slump against her in relief.

"Hey, we're not done yet," she prodded him. "Come on, Joey, a little further."

"What possessed you people to come down here?" the second pursuer rebuked them.

"My friend was in the gym when the place started blowing up," Tristan answered.

"You're lucky to be alive, all of you. That was incredibly stupid going after him yourselves. You should have informed a crewmember."

"We _did, _but he kept telling us no one was down there."

"Someone did search the Holiday Deck, but they didn't find anyone," the other purser said apologetically.

"Well they must not've looked very hard 'cause we found him in like ten minutes," Tristan accused. The crewmembers, perhaps thinking _lawsuit,_ said nothing.

Finally they had climbed the three flights of stairs back to the Promenade Deck. It was fairly empty now, but Mai could see a boat waiting. She was surprised to see that the sky was already starting to turn pink; then she remembered that this far north, sunrise was as early as four AM. A female crewmember rushed toward them carrying blankets, which she wrapped around them. The three crewmembers helped them across the deck and into the waiting lifeboat, which, as Mai had promised, was covered and heated. They were bustled into a corner where they huddled together trying to get warm. More blankets were piled on top of them.

"Can you let our friends know we're okay?" Tristan asked one of the pursers.

"We already radioed their boat when we found you."

"How you doing there, Joey?" Tristan asked, rubbing his friend's arms to warm him up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." His voice did sound a little stronger and he looked like some color was coming back to his lips. "How did you know where to find me?"

Tristan looked from Joey to Mai. "Mai."

"Mai?" Joey asked, turning to face her.

"I was working out in the weight room and saw you playing basketball when I left. No big deal," she shrugged.

"Wrong. Very big deal. You and Tristan saved my life. Thank you," he said so softly she barely heard him.

She looked away from him. "Yeah, well I owed you. A few, actually. I know it doesn't change anything."

He didn't reply, so she looked over to find his eyes closed.

"Joey?" she asked, nudging him in alarm.

"I think he's just asleep," Tristan told her. "Hey, I wanna thank you, too. You didn't have to go looking for him with me."

"Yes, I did," she replied.

Tristan regarded her a moment, then just nodded. Closing his eyes, he leaned back beside his friend as the boat gradually lowered off the side of the sinking ship and into the black water.

Four hours later, with the sun well above the horizon, the _USS Chrysaor _disappeared beneath the surface, leaving ten lifeboats alone in the water.

**

* * *

**

_Continued in Revival II: Shadow Games_


End file.
